New document service aims to make early fundraising rounds less expensive for entrepreneurs

Document service aims to lower startup costs

SAN FRANCISCO — Raising money shouldn’t cost startups so much money.

At least that’s the theory underlying the latest idea backed by former entrepreneurs-turned-venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

They worked with Silicon Valley lawyer Ted Wang and a few other investors to set up a system that is supposed to help startups work out the terms of their initial financing without running up big legal bills.

The service, called Series Seed Documents, is scheduled to be available later this week.

It provides a template covering the basic issues that typically arise when entrepreneurs are trying to raise less than $1 million.

The goal is to minimize the need for legal advice so startups will have more money to spend on developing new products and services.