Counsel for founders scaling from early traction to lasting enterprise.
GIAS advises small businesses and founders — from AI and software startups to consultants, creators, and family-run companies — through the decisions that make or break growth: business model, financing, governance, and the transactions that follow. Drawing upon 35+ years business advisory and legal experience, advising clients, and leading university venture and accelerator programs.
Advisory for ventures that don't fit one template.
Designed around your needs and your industry — the mix below reflects the range of businesses actually advised, not a generic checklist.
AI-Powered Ventures
Model-driven products and services navigating fast-moving markets and unfamiliar diligence questions.
Software & SaaS
Recurring-revenue businesses working through pricing, fundraising, and go-to-market.
Product Ventures
Physical and digital product companies moving from prototype to repeatable sales.
Consulting & Professional Services
Advisory and services firms structuring for growth beyond the founder's own time.
Freelancers & Solopreneurs
Independent practitioners formalizing contracts, pricing, and entity structure.
Content Creators
Creator and media businesses turning an audience into a durable, structured company.
Social Impact Ventures
Mission-driven organizations balancing grant, earned-revenue, and investment capital.
Family Businesses
Family-run companies working through governance, succession, and next-stage growth.
Practical counsel, matched to where your business actually is.
Each engagement draws on operating experience running accelerator and fund programs across a wide range of venture types — paired with two decades advising on the legal and financial mechanics of growth.
Business Model & Governance Advisory
Sharpening the business model, entity structure, and governance foundation so the business can raise capital and scale without rework later.
Financing & Fund Readiness
Capital strategy across grants, seed, debt, and Series rounds — financial modeling, diligence preparation, and positioning for equity or debt financing.
Growth & Accelerator Programming
Structured, accelerator-style growth support: go-to-market strategy, customer discovery, mentorship matching, and venture-readiness workshops.
Contracts, Compliance & Risk
We assist in navigating vendor and procurement contracting, NDAs and leases, compliance documentation, and risk process design for growing organizations, and prepare you to better communicate with legal counsel.
M&A, Exit & Cross-Border Counsel
Transaction preparation and support for sales, mergers, and exits, including due diligence support, data room preparation support, and document review assistance.
Portfolio & Program Management
For entities and organizations looking to set up their own incubator, accelerator, or grant funding program: access to our Innovation Hub Playbook — a practical guide to launch your innovation center or accelerator program, and program operations design support.
Five stages, one advisor across all of them.
This is the same stage-gate structure used inside community, non-profit, and university accelerator and fund programs — brought to a single business, at whichever stage it's currently in. GIAS meets you where you are.
Business model & legal structure
Entity formation, governance documents, founder agreements, and a business model built to withstand diligence.
Customer discovery & go-to-market
Testing the model against real customers, refining pricing and positioning, and building the go-to-market plan.
Capital strategy & fund readiness
Choosing the right capital — grant, seed, debt, or Series — and preparing the financial model, diligence materials, and terms.
Operations, staffing & programming
Accelerator-style growth support: mentorship, hiring, operational build-out, and disciplined reporting to the people funding you.
M&A, exit & what comes next
Preparing for and negotiating the next transaction — acquisition, merger, exit, or follow-on financing — with counsel who's done it cross-border.
GIAS was founded on a foundation of leading nationally ranked, globally recognized venture and innovation programs and co-creating what is heralded as the largest uncrewed systems accelerator in the world — paired with 20+ years advising financial institutions, corporations, and governments on corporate finance, securities law, and cross-border transactions across the U.S. and Caribbean. GIAS also serves as a mentor for the Founders Institute (Caribbean).
Let's map your growth path.
A short conversation is usually enough to tell you which stage you're actually in, and what needs attention first.
Contact us to learn about our flexible pricing plans to meet your budget. Retainer, flat fee, hourly rates and student rates available.