30 Oct Entrepreneur Tip of the Week: Get It in Writing!

Even after you have found the right partner to start your company with – whether it is a spouse or significant other, a family member, or a relative stranger with whom you share business aspirations – it is still important to get everything in writing with attorneys present! Although you may end up disagreeing about certain things later on, it is always better to have a written roadmap for your business relationship.

Going through the process of thoughtfully considering how you want to deal with certain scenarios, how you want the company to be run and divided, how you would potentially go about buying out the other, and so on, is an important exercise to practice before you actually run into these problems. Websites that allow you to form a corporation or LLC without an attorney’s help can save some money but are not sufficient alternatives to hiring a lawyer.

One important thing to remember: be aware of whom exactly a lawyer is representing. Often I have been brought in to represent the company to help arrange deals between partners, which subsequently means I do not represent either of the partners. In this scenario, I tend to recommend that each partner has his or her own attorney because it really does make for a more successful business venture in the long run.