Inside the Master of Science in Law

MSL ’22 Neil Misak Provides Tips for Budding Entrepreneurs and Their Legal Counsel

July 30, 2025

What are the keys to starting a new business venture—or advising those who do?

During an appearance as part of the DPELC-MSL Speaker Series at the Donald Pritzker Entrepreneurship Law Center, Neil Misak (MSL ’22), cofounder of reusable food-and- beverage packaging tag-and-trace software provider REUSO, provided tips and tricks for those who have caught “the entrepreneurial bug”—or who want to provide legal services to startups.

Among his takeaways for entrepreneurs:

Entrepreneurship is as much an inner journey as an external one. “It’s important to network, and get yourself out there, and meet people,” he says. “But in order to be the best innovator possible, take some time to reflect on your unique skills, your unique experiences, and bring that to bear. What are those moments in your life where you’ve just felt so much energy, so much passion? And double down on that.”
Entrepreneurship is a team sport. While pop culture glorifies the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world, businesses are built by a wide range of players, Misak says. “You’ll need to round out your team with complementary skillsets, acknowledging what you uniquely can bring to the table, and recognizing opportunities to bring other folks into the fold,” he says. “That’s why I think it’s so important to have an interdisciplinary mindset; programs like the MSL show the value in bringing people from different disciplines together.”
Get involved in experiential learning where you can. Misak suggests taking practical courses and participating in activities like hackathons—these learning experiences can provide invaluable experience. “Dedicating time to a practical course or to participating in a weekend learning event can help you further your entrepreneurial mindset in a safe testing ground,” Misak says. “My time at Northwestern in the MSL was a great training ground for me.”
When launching a business, focus on the founders’ agreement. One of Misak’s early ventures struggled when the partners sat down to write the founders’ agreement and realized “we were pretty far off in terms of the visions for the company, and in terms of equity-split compensation,” he says. “If we hadn’t done this early on, those issues might have dragged on for months, or years.”
Just get started. “It doesn’t always work out exactly how you planned,” he says. But press forward and take action. “Whether it’s reaching out to a potential partner for advice or to help uncover some important truth on your journey, or asking a manufacturer to help you pilot some products, getting that first ‘yes’ is key.”
Don’t get caught napping. Misak and his wife and business partner, Eva Bugg, won a 2022 Climate Champion Award from Chicago Innovations in the early stage of REUSO when they were providing reusable container washing services, before they turned to tag-and-trace software as their business model. But they almost didn’t even apply. “We were so tired. We had just washed thousands of these containers [after an event],” he recalls, and they were ready to go to sleep. “The application was due, and we said, ‘Let’s just put our best foot forward. Let’s get it in.’ Submit that application, apply for that grant, make the phone call, send that email. You never know where it may lead.”
Establish a good working relationship with legal counsel. The best attorneys will be “pathfinders for your business” that guide you through business law basics: founders’ agreements, intellectual property filings, contracts, regulation in your industry, and more, Misak says. “For those of you who are founders, I encourage you to study up and learn as much as you can about the law – but also know when it’s time to engage an expert,” he says. Misak also advised founders to be on the lookout for connections your lawyer may have to potential investors, advisors, or customers. “If you view your attorney as part of your team, it can help elevate the relationship from a transactional one—‘how much is my legal bill this month?’—to, candidly, some of the best funds you can spend as a founder.”
Know when it’s time to cut bait. There’s no right answer to when to wind down a business venture, but at a certain point, you may have enough questionable data points that you either need to pivot or look to something entirely new, Misak says. “There’s never an easy time to give up on a business, but when you start seeing the signals, the tailwinds aren’t in your favor, or candidly, you’re just not energized by it anymore—pay attention. Your entrepreneurial endeavor should be something that brings you joy and fulfillment,” he says. For example, in one early venture, he and his partners had a roundtable discussion with several potential customers that seemed to go very well. “But every single potential customer said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’” he recalls. “There were enough ‘nos’ that we realized it was time to focus on a new venture.”

Among Misak’s advice for law students interested in working with entrepreneurs:

Establish your role as a trusted adviser to the business. “Try to coach your entrepreneurs to become more self-sufficient,” he says. “It shouldn’t be a power dynamic with the lawyer determining the direction of the business. And it also shouldn’t be the founder completely ignoring the law. Legal counsel can be an accelerant, mitigating risk to a business, thinking two or three steps ahead for founders, and really crossing t’s, dotting i’s, ensuring that entrepreneurs can bring their vision to life.”
Understand an entrepreneur’s individual skill sets. “Are they sharp on technology, but not so much on business? Or are they more business-focused, but not as technical? The legal advisor can shape the relationships to help fill in gaps,” he says. “Those of you who are going to be practicing attorneys who work with entrepreneurs, get to know them, get to know their business, and you can really elevate yourself from a transactional attorney to a strategic partner and make an influential difference in that startup’s journey.”
Learn as much as you can about your clients’ businesses. You’ll probably never have the same depth of domain expertise as the founders you work with, but keeping up to date with relevant industry news can help you serve as an important advisor, Misak says. “What regulations are coming down the pipeline that may be pertinent to my clients?” he says. “What challenges are we seeing? Getting to that 100, 200-level knowledge of the industries that they’re serving is immensely beneficial.”
Try to build a business yourself. The legal counsel that Misak works with is himself a “serial entrepreneur,” who has started several ventures, the last of which was his own law firm. “That ability to speak from personal experience is invaluable,” he says. And for law students who don’t have startup experience, “In lieu of actually being a founder, advising a couple of early-stage startups, offering some assistance either pro bono or for low-cost, to get that key experience would be awesome.”

Inside the MSL Home | MSL ’22 Amir Kabir on Venture, Risk and the Entrepreneurial Gene →