New businesses, or start-ups, often struggle later on its the business’s life due to how the business was originally set up or organized. This is more often a problem with businesses with more than one founder, since at one point or another, personalities and ideas will clash between the founders or later buy-ins. Too often, business co-founders will treat a new company like an exciting new relationship. The founders get excited about the new business, everyone seems to agree on everything, and then the business is founded without talking to an attorney, accountant, or any other business professional. The founders go out, start the business, and never discuss operating agreements, by-laws, or anything else that a professional would suggest. In the professional world, relationships that start in a frenzy, and without much consideration for the future, often end up in failure, and start-ups are no different.
First, before even consulting an attorney and/or accountant, it is very important for the co-founders to have a long and detailed conversations about their business, their working relationship, how to settle disputes in the future,and many other topics that they will have to deal with as the company grows.
One of the people who knows this best is Dharmesh Shah, the successful entrepreneur and co-founder of HubSpot. He recently published a list of the most important questions that co-founders need to resolve as soon as possible when starting a new business.
After you talk to the other founders of the business, it is time for the business owners to consult an attorney and/or CPA. Every business and business owner is different, so a meeting with an attorney is important to discuss how to organize your business to fit your business present and future needs.. If you are in the process of starting a business, or have recently started one one (or never got around to creating an operating agreement), please call our office today for a free consultation about the needs to organize your business.
If you are thinking about starting a business, these previous posts may interest you:
– Commingling of Business & Personal Funds (And Why It Is A Bad Idea
