• +91 9831977130
  • 2 Surya Sen Nagar, Khardah, Kolkata:700117

Founders Agreement

  1. Home
  2. Founders Agreement

How Does The Founders Agreement Work For You?

Step-1

Our lawyer-drafted founders agreements ensure that your property is safeguarded.

Step-2

The first draft will be shared with you in no time.

Step-3

Our aim is to provide you with the best legal contracts at the most affordable prices.

An Overview

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract that states certain information to be confidential and the extent to which its disclosure is restricted to third parties. It can be entered into with a person or an organization. A founders agreement is an official contract or a legal agreement executed between the co-founders of the company while setting up a business. This agreement elucidates the roles, rights and duties, responsibilities, ownership, liabilities, and investment proportion of each founder.
A founders agreement should be made in the written format, not oral, Two or more partners jointly can enter into the founders agreement called co-partners/ parties, All co-founders will enter into the agreement exactly while incorporating the business or company.

Benefits of a Founders Agreement

  • Determining the Type of Business Entity:
    The founders agreement will clearly mention the nature and type of entity that should be established by the co-founders, thereby setting the proper path to be followed.
  • Outlined Business Plans:
    This agreement describes the vision and mission of the entity and sets the short term and long term goals to be achieved over a period of time.
  • Designating the Roles and Responsibilities:
    Obviously, there will be overlapping roles and functions between co-founders without having a proper framework of the assigned roles. Therefore, it is important to designate the roles and responsibilities of the co-founders, in accordance with their area of mastery like marketing, operations, finance, etc.
  • Structure of Ownership:
    The founders agreement will clearly specify the structure of ownership pertaining to the initial contribution made by the cofounder or the percentage of the equity shares held by the cofounder in case of a company, thereby avoiding any future conflicts in between them.
  • Decision Making:
    At a certain point in time, there will be an ideological conflict between co-founders, So these conflicts are to be handled through the proper decision-making process. Here the founders agreement will formulate a procedure to be followed during the decision making process. If the voting system is adopted, then it should define the value of votes for each founder and provide a solution in case of a deadlock situation.
  • Compensation Provisions:
    This agreement laid down the scheme of compensation to be carried out, if anyone of the cofounder has violated the provisions mandated. Here, the proportion of the compensation to be made will be mentioned for every cofounder.
  • Expulsion of Co-founders:
    Any co-founder can be evicted from the company for indulging in fraudulent activities like misappropriation of funds, sexual harassment, and getting employed with other organisations. This agreement ensures a proper structure on how to deal with these situations and sorting out appropriate funds to be reverted to the expelled co-founder.
  • Confidentiality:
    There was a separate clause on confidentiality in the founders agreement, which makes an obligation for founders to not reveal the secrets of the business.

Documents Required for Preparation of a Founders Agreement

  • Address proof of all co-founders
  • Identity proof of all co-founders
  • Identity proof of witnesses
  • A clear objective of the company
  • The number of equity shares of each co-founder
  • The overall percentage of shares of each co-founder.

    • FAQs on Make the Perfect Founders Agreement with Digitronic

    Yes it is mandatory to get this form of agreement drafted, as it negates the possibility of getting ousted from the entity without proper exit clauses. Apart from this, the founders agreement would also have provisions related to the responsibilities of the founders.
    Yes such an agreement would have enforceability. When such an agreement is notarised on a non-judicial stamp paper and the requisite fee is paid the agreement would be enforceable in courts.
    The founders agreement will restrict co-founders from engaging with other employment opportunities, even if they are relieved or ousted from the company.
    Yes, but it depends on the severity of the dispute! For example, the shares of the co-founder will be vested with the company if he violates or breaches the agreement.

    Company formation and registration has been made easier with Digitronic. You can easily consult a company secretary through us for all of your compliance needs, including foreign income, FDI, PF, and pensions.

    Contact Us