Shareholder & Ownership
Founder agreements
Agree roles, equity and decisions between co-founders.
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Starting a business
Setting up a new business: the structure, the registrations, and the agreements between the people in it.
Starting a business is a sequence rather than a single decision: the structure you choose, the registrations that follow from it, the agreements between the people involved, and then the first person you take on. Most of it is straightforward once you know what order it comes in.
What this can involveWhat it can involve
Does one of these sound like yours?
You don’t need to know the legal term for it. Start with what actually happened.
- Choosing a structureCompany, LLC, corporation, partnership or nonprofit — and what each one means for ownership, liability and paperwork.
- Registering the businessGetting it registered, with the registered agent and the licences the activity actually needs.
- Agreements between the foundersWho owns what, who decides what, and what happens if one of you wants out later.
- The documents a new company needsThe constitutional paperwork a company is expected to have in place from the start.
- Taking the first person onAn employee or a contractor, and the agreement that belongs in place before they start.
- Protecting the name and the ideaThe name you trade under, and keeping the idea to yourself while you talk to people about it.
None of these quite right? You don’t have to pick one.
More than one area
One situation, more than one area of law.
Starting a business rarely sits in a single category. These are the areas it most often reaches, and why. You don’t have to pick one — the matter decides, not you.
Each one is a real page you can read before deciding anything.
Most oftenCorporate & CommercialThe structure, the ownership and the governance of the business itself.
And often also
- TaxHow a business is set up decides what it owes, and to whom.
- Employment & LabourThe first hire brings its own agreements and policies with it.
- ContractsThe first customer and supplier agreements arrive almost immediately.
- Intellectual PropertyThe name and the product are often where the value actually sits.
And for registrations
Documents
You may also need a document.
A new business produces its first documents straight away — between the founders, and then with the first customer or the first hire.
Ready-to-Use Documents
Browse all business documentsShareholder & Ownership
Shareholder agreements
Govern how shareholders own, vote and sell their shares.
Incorporation & LLC
Articles of Incorporation
Set out the details needed to form a corporation.
Custom Documents
Before you show the idea to a manufacturer, a developer or someone who might join you, a mutual NDA is usually the first document. This is the one you can build yourself, from guided questions.
Business & Corporate
Mutual non-disclosure agreement
Two parties sharing confidential information with each other, on matching terms.
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Not sure where to start
Still not sure this is your situation?
Then don't pick one. Describe what's happening in your own words and we'll work out what it involves — and which areas of law it reaches.
Other situations
Is one of these closer?
Questions
Questions people ask at this point.
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Tell us what’s happening. We’ll take it from there.
You don't need to know which area of law it is, or what the next step should be. Describe the situation and we'll work out what it involves.