Don't get sued by your first hire
This week's guest
Tosin Iyayi
Oluwatosin “Tosin” Iyayi is a Partner at Aluko & Oyebode, where she works in the firm’s Litigation and ADR practice. Her areas of focus include banking, insolvency and debt recovery, employment, commercial litigation, arbitration, and Nigerian litigation procedure.
She has also been featured in conversations around fintech and startup governance, including TechCabal and Ecobank’s Fintech Breakfast Series, where she spoke on how fintech companies can strengthen corporate governance.
Connect
About This episode
In this episode, Lola Masha speaks with Tosin Iyayi about the legal mistakes founders make when hiring early team members. Tosin explains why written agreements are critical for startups, especially when defining roles, responsibilities, payment terms, notice periods, confidentiality, and ownership of work.
The conversation explores the difference between employees and contractors, and why founders must clearly document each relationship from the start. Tosin also breaks down key clauses every startup should understand, including termination, dismissal, probation, non-disclosure agreements, intellectual property, data protection, and employee device
monitoring.
.png)
