Founders treat legal pages like a final-mile chore for "real" companies. Wrong frame. Stripe, PayPal, AppSumo, Apple, Google Ads, and most app stores all check for them before they let you collect a single dollar or run a single ad. No Terms, no payments. No Privacy Policy, no signup with email.
This is not about lawyers. It's about removing a blocker that costs you nothing to fix.
You are not writing these from scratch. You are not paying $500 to a lawyer for a product with zero paying users. You are using a generator.
1. Open Termly, iubenda, or GetTerms2. Answer the wizard: company name, country, contact email, what you collect3. Copy the generated Terms of Service4. Copy the generated Privacy Policy5. Paste each into a /terms and /privacy page on your site6. Add both links to your footer7. Link Terms from your signup page near the submit button
That's the entire job. Use your real contact email. If you collect emails, the Privacy Policy is required. If users create accounts or pay, Terms are required. Cookies on the site? Add the cookie consent banner the same generator gives you.
When you eventually take real money or hit a regulated market, you can pay a lawyer to review what you've already published. That's a problem for future you. Today's job is "exists and is linked."
Bad: a 4,000-word Terms doc you wrote yourself at 1am
Good: a generator-produced Terms doc with your name, email, and product in the right slots
Bad: footer link buried under five other items in a faded grey color
Good: footer with "Terms" and "Privacy" links visible and clickable, plus a Terms checkbox at signup
Two live pages — Terms of Service and Privacy Policy — linked from your site footer and from your signup flow. Both pages show your real company name and a working contact email.
Founders treat legal pages like a final-mile chore for "real" companies. Wrong frame. Stripe, PayPal, AppSumo, Apple, Google Ads, and most app stores all check for them before they let you collect a single dollar or run a single ad. No Terms, no payments. No Privacy Policy, no signup with email.
This is not about lawyers. It's about removing a blocker that costs you nothing to fix.
You are not writing these from scratch. You are not paying $500 to a lawyer for a product with zero paying users. You are using a generator.
1. Open Termly, iubenda, or GetTerms2. Answer the wizard: company name, country, contact email, what you collect3. Copy the generated Terms of Service4. Copy the generated Privacy Policy5. Paste each into a /terms and /privacy page on your site6. Add both links to your footer7. Link Terms from your signup page near the submit button
That's the entire job. Use your real contact email. If you collect emails, the Privacy Policy is required. If users create accounts or pay, Terms are required. Cookies on the site? Add the cookie consent banner the same generator gives you.
When you eventually take real money or hit a regulated market, you can pay a lawyer to review what you've already published. That's a problem for future you. Today's job is "exists and is linked."
Bad: a 4,000-word Terms doc you wrote yourself at 1am
Good: a generator-produced Terms doc with your name, email, and product in the right slots
Bad: footer link buried under five other items in a faded grey color
Good: footer with "Terms" and "Privacy" links visible and clickable, plus a Terms checkbox at signup
Two live pages — Terms of Service and Privacy Policy — linked from your site footer and from your signup flow. Both pages show your real company name and a working contact email.