Digital law for startups –
Growing in the digital world with legal certainty
Part 1: The Basics
September 2025
As a decision-maker in your startup, you face a multitude of legal requirements. What is crucial is identifying the truly relevant areas and tackling them systematically. We have structured and prioritized the most important digital law topics for you.
We have structured and prioritized the most important digital law topics for you. With this overview, you can specifically address the areas that are most important for your business model and your current development phase.
In the first part of this series, we address some basics that actually affect every startup: Review of the business model, the website and advertising.
Product development & compliance
Thinking about legal certainty from the start
Your product is the heart of your company. Early legal assessment not only saves time and costs, but can also be used as a competitive advantage.
Compliance check before launch
Business model review: A fundamental review of the permissibility of your business model is the first step. Some approaches may be inadmissible under data protection law, classified as prohibited AI, or subject to such high legal requirements that economic implementation becomes difficult. An early review creates clarity.
In product design
Privacy by Design: Thinking about privacy from the beginning is not only legally required, but also strategically smart. Those who integrate privacy early experience no unpleasant surprises later. Additionally, well-thought-out privacy can promote trust with customers as a sales argument.
AI usage: Are you developing or integrating AI systems? Then you should keep an eye on risk classification as well as potential documentation and quality assurance obligations. The good news: There are also legal facilitations such as regulatory sandboxes that you can use.
Cybersecurity: IT security is increasingly becoming a legal obligation – also for products. The Cyber Resilience Act is a clear signal of this development. Early implemented security measures are both legally and economically sensible.
Website & online presence
Your digital showcase
Your website is the showcase of your company and the first impression for customers, investors and also authorities. Solid compliance strengthens trust, while omissions create vulnerabilities for competitors and can damage the company image.
The most important compliance areas:
Privacy notice: Customers have a right to understand how their data is processed. The transparency requirements of the GDPR are very detailed – professional help ensures that you meet all requirements while remaining understandable.
Cookie consent: Most modern websites use technologies that require consent. Clear, legally valid consent is complex, but well implementable with the right counseling.
Imprint: The mandatory information must be complete and correct. Precise work here prevents later objections and underlines your professionalism.
Newsletter consent: Both privacy and competition law apply here. A clean consent solution protects you legally and creates trust with your subscribers.
Marketing & customer acquisition
Designing effective acquisition with legal certainty
Customer acquisition is an important growth tool for every startup. The legal framework varies by channel and requires a well-thought-out approach.
Acquisition channels overview
Telephone outreach: Consent is generally required; there are exceptions for B2B contacts within very narrow limits
Postal mail: Possible without consent for non-intrusive outreach, otherwise consent required
Online channels (email, LinkedIn, etc.): Consent is almost always needed here – exception within narrow limits for existing business relationships
When building your customer database, you should consider both privacy and cybersecurity requirements. A well-set-up CRM system protects not only legally, but also your most valuable asset – your customer data.
You will learn this in Part 2
In the next part, we address the protection of intangible assets. How can you protect your own Intellectual Property ("IP"), what must you consider when it comes to third-party IP, and what are the most important topics regarding cybersecurity law and trade secrets.
Read Part 2 now.
Do you need help with one of these points?
Contact us for a free initial meeting.
We develop with you a roadmap with the most important steps and create concepts, contracts and legal documentation so that you can focus on what matters to you – your business.
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