Hi Liam I'm a startup'er but also a commercial lawyer by trade and I'd be happy to help you with a shareholders agreement and to bring it up to a level where it can be "templated".
You won't get a firm willing to put their template up for people to download and use themselves. Firstly, it ruins their ability to generate paid work that is very valuable - shareholders agreement lead to longterm work with the company at hand. Second, it opens them up to liability when something goes wrong - even if they're not liable, someone suing you is a massive pain in the ass. Simple. A shareholders agreement reflects a common understanding of the rights & obligations that each shareholder in a company have to each other, above and beyond the mechanisms of the constitution. Having worked with people putting together partnerships & shareholder agreements, I can assure you that documenting these rights & obligations is easier said than done. The importance of certain elements that make these things enforceable (or more importantly, workable) is often overlooked or misunderstood. However, with that said I see a great deal of opportunity in bringing these documents into the realm of affordability for startups, and I've been compiling useful documents for this purpose for a while now. I will never allow my documents to be "downloaded" for individual use, however I would be more than happy to work within people's range of affordability or look at having things paid off. I've just signed back on as a consultant with Rouse Lawyers, a firm that I've used for some big deals commercially, so that we can "sign off" on any documents at the end and get the benefit of insurance and the input of an experienced principal in a commercial firm. If you (or anyone else) are interested, please contact me, and we will work something out together that fits your budget and also allows us to have something to assist other startup'ers with. Kurt Falkenstein LL.B k...@bridgeadvisory.com.au BridgeAdvisory Australia On Jul 7, 11:19 am, SoccerFit <lia...@soccerfit.com.au> wrote: > Hi all, > > Seeking input on a Shareholders agreement template that can be > modified/adjusted as required. > > I have read previous posts to the group but didn't get a sense that > anyone had identified a good starting point document...or a least one > that looked like it had some of the usual legal 'trimmings' associated > with it....not that I'm obsessed with the need for it to look > 'legalistic' but, I guess, one assumes that this type of document is > generally perceived better. > > I do subscribe to the view that the SA document is only enforce-able > to the extent that you are willing to pay lawyers to do so. > > So...in trying to simplify things...I was hoping to... > > a) Collect the dot points from the other party (there is only one...an > experienced investor who knows this terrain fairly well) that > represent 'what they want' in the document. > b) Add these (with any agreed adjustments) to a basic template - > either one purchased off the net, or other decent-looking one that I > can get hold of). > c) Send the combo-document to a lawyer to review/advise/ > rubberstamp...for hopefully less than 2 to 3K. > > Make any sense? Anyone? > > I am trying to get this ticked off fairly soon...if I get something > that I feel is useful, I am happy to make it available to the group > (if anyone else is interested). > > Regards, > > Liam O'Duibhir > Director > SoccerFit (www.soccerfit.com.au) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://tr.im/ujKF No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://tr.im/ujMm To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
