My life-long pal is a successful lawyer with a few PE firms on his docket. Since I already have this connection, would it be wise to put down a retainer with his firm for purposes of fund formation et al. before the first day of accelerator?
Avoid this approach. DO NOT WORK with lawyers that don't specialize with VC fund formation. If the lawyer practices fund formation in other areas besides VC, they are not going to be a good partner. Also, do not spend any time speaking with service providers or lawyers until you have at least $1m in hard circled commitments via signed PACTs from LPs. Speaking with vendors before having signed PACTs is one of the biggest mistakes we see new managers make.