A founders’ agreement is perhaps the most important legal tool in the formation phase of your start-up. The general goal of a founders’ agreement is to have an open and honest agreement of the attitudes, fears, and aspirations of, as well as the arrangements among the founders of a start-up in the hopes of minimizing the likelihood of potential risks later in the life of the company. A founders’ agreement is also something the early-phase investors look at fondly.
There are several key issues to be agreed between founders upon committing to a new start-up project that should be reflected in the founders’ agreement such as:
• ownership (who owns how much of the company);
• roles and responsibilities of the founders;
• operation of the company;
• intellectual property assignment to the company;
• procedure if one of the founders leaves the start-up or stops to contribute.
The agreement regarding the aforementioned issues does not necessarily have to be stipulated in a 30-page agreement ordered from expensive lawyers, especially considering the lack of funds typically available for pre-seed start-ups.
Hedman Lift Templates section you will find a basic founders’ agreement template with the most important clauses that your founders’ agreement should include. We have tried to make the template as basic and simple to understand as possible. The template has been created under the laws of the Republic of Estonia, although with minimal amendments it may be effectively used under any European jurisdiction. Please contact to Hedman Lift for further information.