Legal, financial, tax, and governance layers — handled as one integrated advisory stack. So the deal closes clean, the cap table holds, and no one's caught off guard at the next round.
Deal Value Advised
Investors Served
At the Table
Client Rating
"Most deals don't fail because of bad documents. They fail because the legal, financial, and governance layers were never talking to each other. We eliminate that gap — before the term sheet hits the table."
— Adv. Pooja Terwad, Founder & Principal Advisor
Every vertical feeds into the others. Your term sheet, cap table, governance framework, and compliance filings move as one coordinated operation.
We negotiate, structure, and close fundraising transactions. Term sheets, SHAs, SSAs, secondary sales, and venture structuring — with partner-level involvement from first call to final signature.
Ownership is the asset that compounds. We model dilution scenarios, design vesting structures, build ESOP pools, and map liquidity pathways that protect founder equity through Series D and beyond.
Bad governance at seed creates an expensive mess at Series B. We structure decision rights, founder protections, investor relations, and board composition — so control stays where it belongs.
Legal, CA, and CS — operating as one unified function. Entity structuring, FEMA/FDI compliance, corporate secretarial, RBI filings, and MCA returns. One team. One thread. Zero gaps between disciplines.
When the round goes live, speed wins. We run legal, financial, and tax diligence, build and clean the data room, prepare valuation reports, and coordinate the full transaction stack — so investors have zero reason to pause.
For foreign businesses and investors entering India. We handle entity setup, regulatory mapping, FDI compliance, local governance, and ongoing secretarial and tax compliance — so you operate with certainty from day one.
We work with founders who've already raised, investors who deploy real capital, and global businesses entering a complex market. Each gets a purpose-built advisory path.
You've raised — or you're about to. The term sheet is on the table, the stakes are real, and you need someone who's been across that table hundreds of times before.
You're deploying capital into India's venture ecosystem. You need experienced counsel on your side of the table — not a firm that also represents the founder across it.
You're setting up in India and need one firm that handles entity structure, regulatory compliance, and local governance — without managing five separate vendors and three conflicting opinions.
"Before we move documents, we align incentives. We negotiate from position, not pressure. And we remain directly involved at every decision point that shapes the outcome."
Most advisory firms in India optimise for volume — wide service menus, high client counts, junior-led execution. We took the opposite path. A focused roster. Partner-level attention. Integrated advisory across legal, financial, tax, and governance. The kind of model that firms like Gunderson Dettmer built for Silicon Valley — adapted for the Indian venture ecosystem, with cross-border capability built in.
Legal, financial, tax, and governance handled as one coordinated unit. Not four firms. Not four invoices. One thread through the entire deal.
You talk to the principal advisor from first call to final signature. Not associates. Not juniors. Decisions happen at the table, not in review.
We don't scale through volume. We stay close to the companies and investors we advise — so we're useful when it counts, not just available when it's easy.
We don't start drafting until the strategy is clear. Negotiation happens at the structural level — not in markup. That's how deals close without friction.
India, Singapore, Dubai, US, UK — cross-border structuring and compliance is not an add-on. It's core to how we advise every engagement.
Founder & Principal Advisor
Pooja founded The Startup Gig in 2015 with a clear conviction: the startup ecosystem didn't need another law firm — it needed an advisory firm that thinks structurally about deals, ownership, and governance.
Since then, she and her team have advised on hundreds of venture transactions, served 180+ investors directly, and built an integrated practice that handles legal, financial, tax, and compliance as one coordinated function.
She remains personally involved in every high-stakes engagement — from term sheet negotiation to deal close.
2015 (9+ Years)
Venture Transactions
180+ Served Directly
India · Singapore · UAE
We measure ourselves by the deals that closed clean, the cap tables that held, and the founders who kept control when it mattered.
Aggregate deal value
advised across rounds
Investors & family offices
served directly
Cross-border transactions
structured & closed
Continuous advisory
practice since 2015
A structured engagement. No discovery forms. No 20-question intakes. A conversation between principals about the deal, the dynamics, and where we add leverage.
We listen to the deal context — the stage, the parties, the pressure points. No pitch. If we're not the right fit, we say so upfront.
We map the legal, financial, tax, and governance layers. Then identify exactly where the deal is vulnerable — and what needs to move before documents do.
Before a single clause gets drafted, we align expectations between all parties. The negotiation happens here — at the structural level. Not in redline markup.
Documents, diligence, data room, filings, compliance — handled as one coordinated push. No loose ends. No surprises. The deal closes clean.
Trusted by founders, investors, and global businesses including
We work with a focused roster. Not every engagement is the right fit. Schedule a confidential discussion — and we'll both know within twenty minutes.
Schedule a Confidential DiscussionMumbai · Bangalore · Delhi NCR · Singapore · Dubai