Last year, SEUM assisted 500 Startups in developing a standard contract form for early stage investments in Korea. After many months of collaboration, 500 Startups and SEUM launched the “START Docs” (standardized term agreement for raise transactions) in October 2015. Before the START Docs were made available, startups and investors used whatever contract form they could find for angel, seed and pre-Series A investments, which in many cases were more appropriate for investment in mature companies. This would often result in unfair deal terms for founders or unnecessary time and costs incurred due to heavy negotiations. 500 Startups set out to resolve these issues with the distribution of the START Docs.

After a year of using the START Docs, 500 Startups and SEUM identified some areas that could be improved. 500 Startups and SEUM also reflected feedback that was collected from other founders and investors. Mainly, several language, style and formatting changes were made to improve user experience. The new START Docs can be downloaded from the 500 Startups Kimchi Fund site (http://startdocs.kimchi.vc).