Marcus van Geyzel

Choosing the right business vehicle for your startup or small business in Malaysia

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This post is a part of a series based on my Law for Startups workshop at MaGIC in September 2015. It’s a basic introduction to legalities for startup founders. You can .

Read the earlier posts for context:

  1. Law for startups in Malaysia — building on the best foundations.
  2. The legal landscape in Malaysia for startups — a hybrid of traditional corporate practices and Silicon Valley models.

One of the earliest decisions that a startup or small business founder will have to make is choosing the right business vehicle through which the business/idea will be carried out.

Business vehicle options

The most common business vehicle options in Malaysia are —

  1. sole proprietorships / partnerships;
  2. private limited liability companies (Companies / Sdn Bhd); and
  3. most recently, the limited liability partnership (LLP).
Unfortunately, Elon hasn't made this vehicle available in Malaysia yet.
Unfortunately, Elon hasn’t made this vehicle available in Malaysia yet.

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DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — understanding the basics of a sale and purchase of property

Marcus van Geyzel7 Comments

This post is part of an on-going series. Please read the following earlier posts for context:

  1. DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — can we really do it without lawyers?
  2. DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — why some people think you don’t need lawyers in a sale and purchase of property.

In the previous post, we’ve seen how the over-simplified concept of the conveyancing process — the ideal in their minds — leads some to think that it isn’t necessary for lawyers to be part of the process.

Let’s now take a quick tour of some of the basic issues that come up in a conveyancing process so that we can appreciate the reality of a sale and purchase transaction.

Those who think you can complete a conveyancing transaction without a lawyer please raise your hands.
Those who think you can complete a conveyancing transaction without a lawyer please raise your hands.

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The legal landscape in Malaysia for startups — a hybrid of traditional corporate practices and Silicon Valley models

Marcus van GeyzelLeave a comment

This post is a part of a series based on my Law for Startups workshop at MaGIC in September 2015.

Read the earlier post for context: Law for Startups in Malaysia — building on the best foundations.

It’s a basic introduction to legalities for startups.

Continue reading →

DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — why some people think you don’t need lawyers in a sale and purchase of property

Marcus van GeyzelLeave a comment

I explained the background to this conversation about “DIY legal documents” and the Collective of Applied Law and Legal Realism (CALR) in an earlier post — “DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — can we really do it without lawyers?”

As mentioned in that post, I was invited to speak at the launch event and was assigned the session title — What’s wrong with conveyancing and corporate law work?

I’ll be writing about what I shared in relation to conveyancing in four parts (beginning with this post):

  1. Why some people think you don’t need lawyers in a sale and purchase of property.
  2. Understanding the basics.
  3. Sale and purchase and loan agreements.
  4. Time for a reality check.

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Law for startups in Malaysia — building on the best foundations

Marcus van Geyzel10 Comments

The Malaysian startup scene has noticeably increased in vibrancy in the past couple of years. Many of us have friends or relatives who are somehow involved in the startup scene — either as founders or investors.

An increasing number of people — young and not-so-young, and some lawyers too — are moving away from traditional career paths and joining the startup ecosystem.

Other than my involvement with startups and investors via my corporate law practice, I’ve recently been working together with the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (“MaGIC”).

My
My “Law For Startups” workshop at MA2015.

MaGIC is funded by the Malaysian government, and you can read their mandate here. They are an exciting and ambitious group of people, and they aim to make Malaysia the startup capital of Asia.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been part of a couple of MaGIC initiatives so far this year:

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DIY legal documents for conveyancing transactions — can we really do it without lawyers?

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Earlier this year, I was invited to be one of the speakers at the launch of the Collective of Applied Law and Legal Realism (CALR) — the event title was “The End of Lawyers, The Future of Law”.

The launch was a great success, and the report was the front page headline of The Star the following day.

No really, the front page headline of The Star!
No really, the front page headline of The Star!

CALR is an initiative led by my friend Edmund Bon, and is one of the many initiatives which have been discussed (formally and informally) by myself and Edmund with different groups of people in relation to innovation in the legal industry.

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