Meet Sage: Your AI General Counsel & Compliance Guardian

Every founder knows the moment: you're about to sign a term sheet, onboard your first employee, or launch in Europe. Suddenly, you're paralyzed by questions you can't answer. Is this IP assignment clause standard? What's my GDPR exposure? Should I really be classifying this person as a contractor?

Enter Sage—your AI General Counsel who never bills by the hour, never goes on vacation, and treats your legal risk like a personal mission. As part of the AI Board Room, Sage brings cautious, protective expertise to the table while your other AI advisors (Atlas for strategy, Cipher for finance, Nova for operations) push you forward. Think of Sage as the voice that says "wait, let's read the fine print" before you sign your company away.

Key Takeaways

• Sage specializes in legal protection: Term sheets, IP strategy, employment law, and compliance—delivered through modular Skills that adapt to your needs
• Document Reading MCP integration: Sage can ingest, analyze, and flag risks in contracts, NDAs, and investor agreements in real-time
• Cautious by design: While other AI Board Room members accelerate growth, Sage protects your downside with systematic risk assessment
• Built for solo founders: Access general counsel-level expertise without $500/hour legal bills or retainer agreements
• Agent-to-Agent collaboration: Sage works alongside Atlas, Cipher, and Nova through A2A protocol to ensure legal considerations inform every strategic decision

Why Solo Founders Need a Legal Guardian (Not Just a Lawyer)

Let's be radically candid: most early-stage founders can't afford good legal counsel when they need it most. You're pre-revenue, bootstrapped, or working with a tiny angel check. That $15,000 retainer? Not happening. So you do what everyone does—you Google, you use templates, you ask founder friends, and you cross your fingers.

This is how companies die.

Not from bad products or weak markets, but from preventable legal landmines: misclassified workers triggering six-figure penalties, IP that you don't actually own, or GDPR violations that cost 4% of global revenue. The irony? These risks are entirely manageable with the right guidance at the right time.

Sage changes the economics of legal protection. Instead of episodic, expensive lawyer consultations, you get continuous, context-aware counsel that understands your business because it lives inside your AI Board Room.

Sage's Core Skills: Modular Legal Expertise

Unlike traditional legal AI that tries to be everything to everyone, Sage operates through Skills—modular expertise files (SKILL.md) that load specific legal knowledge domains. This architecture means Sage doesn't give generic advice; it provides targeted, actionable guidance based on your exact situation.

Term Sheet & Investment Agreement Analysis

Sage reads your term sheet line by line using Document Reading MCP (Model Context Protocol for tool integration). It flags:

• Liquidation preferences that could leave founders with nothing in modest exits
• Anti-dilution provisions that punish you in down rounds
• Vesting acceleration terms that matter when acquisition talks start
• Board composition clauses that could cost you control

Real example: A founder in the AI Board Room uploaded a SAFE note. Sage identified a valuation cap that was 40% below market for their sector and stage, then collaborated with Atlas (strategy AI) via A2A protocol to model dilution scenarios across three funding paths.

IP Strategy & Protection

For tech founders, IP is the business. Sage helps you:

• Audit IP ownership: Who actually owns the code your contractor wrote? The design your agency created? That algorithm your co-founder developed before incorporating?
• Draft assignment agreements: Proper IP assignment templates for employees, contractors, and advisors
• Assess infringement risk: Before you launch, Sage reviews your tech stack for potential patent or trademark conflicts

The cautious personality shines here. While Nova (your operations AI) wants to move fast and launch, Sage ensures you're not building on someone else's foundation.

Employment Law & Classification

The gig economy created a compliance minefield. Sage navigates it:

• Contractor vs. employee classification: Using current DOL and IRS tests, Sage assesses misclassification risk for each role
• Remote work compliance: Hiring across state lines or internationally? Sage flags registration, tax, and employment law requirements
• Equity compensation: ISO vs. NSO, 83(b) elections, and equity grant documentation that actually works

This is where Action Extraction becomes powerful. During a voice strategy session using Native Audio, you mention plans to hire three contractors in Europe. Sage automatically extracts this as a task, researches EU employment law implications, and prepares a compliance briefing before your next meeting.

Use Cases: Sage in Action

Contract Review That Actually Protects You

You receive a 27-page SaaS agreement from an enterprise customer. Reading it carefully would take hours you don't have. Uploading it to Sage takes 30 seconds.

Using Document Reading MCP, Sage:

1. Extracts key terms (liability caps, indemnification, termination rights)
2. Flags non-standard or risky clauses in red
3. Suggests specific redlines with justification
4. Estimates negotiation difficulty for each point

The output? A two-page executive summary with clear "must fix" vs. "nice to have" recommendations. You enter negotiations informed and protected.

GDPR Compliance for the Non-Lawyer

You're a US-based SaaS founder with European customers. GDPR applies, but you're fuzzy on the details. Sage provides:

• Data mapping: What personal data you collect, where it's stored, who processes it
• Legal basis audit: Consent vs. legitimate interest vs. contractual necessity for each data use
• Vendor assessment: Which subprocessors need DPAs? Are your tools GDPR-compliant?
• Documentation templates: Privacy policy, cookie consent, data processing agreements

Sage's protective nature means it assumes worst-case scenarios. Better to over-comply early than face enforcement later.

Investor Agreement Negotiation

You have a term sheet from a VC. It's your first institutional round. Everything feels overwhelming. Sage breaks it down:

• Market comparison: How do these terms compare to standard Series A deals in your sector?
• Scenario modeling: Working with Atlas via A2A protocol, what does your ownership look like across exit scenarios?
• Negotiation priorities: Which terms matter most? Where should you push back?
• Founder protection: Vesting, acceleration, drag-along rights—what protects you if things go sideways?

The AI Board Room approach means legal analysis doesn't happen in isolation. Sage's risk assessment informs Atlas's strategic recommendations, which inform Cipher's financial projections, which inform Nova's go-to-market timeline.

The Technology Stack: How Sage Actually Works

Sage isn't magic—it's sophisticated orchestration of modern AI capabilities:

• Skills architecture: Legal expertise loaded as modular SKILL.md files, allowing rapid updates as laws change
• MCP integration: Document Reading MCP lets Sage ingest and analyze contracts, policies, and legal documents
• A2A protocol: Sage collaborates with other AI Board Room members, ensuring legal considerations inform every business decision
• Native Audio: Voice-first interaction means legal guidance during strategy sessions, not just document review
• Action Extraction: Converts legal discussions into concrete tasks, deadlines, and compliance checkpoints

This stack means Sage isn't a chatbot you consult occasionally—it's an active participant in your business operations, continuously monitoring for legal and compliance issues.

When Sage Says "No" (And Why That's Valuable)

Here's the provocative truth: the best legal counsel sometimes stops you from doing things. Sage's cautious, protective personality means it will flag risks others might miss or minimize.

A founder wanted to launch quickly in California without proper contractor agreements. Pulse (marketing) had campaigns ready. Atlas (strategy) saw the market opportunity. Sage said no — and outlined the $50,000+ penalties for misclassification under AB5.

The launch was delayed two weeks. Proper agreements were executed. The company avoided a lawsuit that would have killed them 18 months later.

That's the value of having a legal guardian in your AI Board Room: someone whose job is protecting your downside while others optimize your upside.

Call to Action: Add Sage to Your AI Board Room

Legal risk isn't theoretical—it's the silent killer of early-stage companies. Misclassified workers, unowned IP, non-compliant data practices, and predatory investment terms destroy businesses that could have succeeded.

You can't afford to ignore legal protection. But you also can't afford $500/hour legal counsel at your stage.

The AI Board Room gives you both: Sage for legal protection, Atlas for strategy, Cipher for financial analysis, Nova for operations — all working together through Skills, MCP, and A2A protocols to build a sustainable, compliant, legally sound business.

Ready to add a General Counsel to your team without the six-figure salary?

Try the AI Board Room at JobInterview.live

Your future self—the one who didn't lose the company to a preventable legal issue—will thank you.