Five clauses every founders' agreement needs
Two founders, one company and no agreement is the most common start, and the most expensive one to fix later.
When two people start a company together, the agreement between them feels like a formality. It becomes the most important document the day one of them wants to leave.
Vesting
Shares that are earned over time, not handed over on day one. If a founder leaves after six months, they keep what they earned, not half the company.
Leaver terms
What happens to a departing founder’s shares, and at what price. Agree the difference between a “good” and a “bad” leaver now, while you are still friends.
Decisions that need both of you
A short list of decisions neither founder can take alone: selling the company, taking on debt, hiring a third founder.
Deadlock
If you disagree on one of those decisions, who breaks the tie? A mediator, an adviser, a buy-sell mechanism: anything is better than nothing.
Intellectual property
Everything each founder made for the company belongs to the company, including what was made before it existed.
General information, not advice on your company. Every agreement should fit the founders who sign it.