SEIC hosted an engaging session with Raza Zaidi today from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Catalyst Hall, bringing together its startups for an afternoon of insights, discussions and practical learning on founder agreements, equity mechanics and incorporation. Zaidi, a Partner at Syed Shabbar Zaidi & Co. with ties to IBA’s Center for Entrepreneurial Development, brought a legal and financial grounding to a session covering some of the most consequential and easily mishandled decisions a founding team will face.
Founder agreements and equity mechanics sit among the areas most likely to create lasting friction between co-founders if left unaddressed early, since disagreements over ownership, contribution and control tend to surface only once a venture has already gained enough traction to make those stakes meaningful. By walking Cohort 2’s founders through these topics directly, alongside the practical steps involved in incorporation, the session gave startups a chance to get ahead of issues that often go unexamined until they become disputes.
The session provided founders with an opportunity to exchange ideas, gain fresh perspectives, and explore new ways to build up and grow their ventures, treating the legal and structural side of a startup as something founders should actively understand rather than delegate entirely to outside counsel without any grasp of the underlying mechanics themselves. For early stage teams still shaping how ownership and decision-making will work internally, this kind of grounding can shape how smoothly the business operates as it scales and brings in new stakeholders.
The session was supported by SITD Government of Sindh, Sapphire Consulting Services and Hum Network, continuing SEIC’s pattern of pairing its Cohort 2 startups with outside experts across legal, financial and strategic topics. The event adds to a growing list of structured sessions SEIC has run for its current cohort, building out a more complete picture of what founders need to understand as they move from early idea to a formally structured business.
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