Hey Partner, we need a Buy-Sell Agreement
If you have business partners, you need to consider what will occur when a partner wants to retire or suffers death or disability. One way to minimise the chaos, and control the order of events, is to design and execute a buy-sell agreement.
Who owns the IP?
So, you’re running a business and need to develop a system to identify trends in customer activity on your website. You’re about to hire a software engineer to lay some code, and the question of who will own the IP comes up in your negotiations over the Software Development Agreement…
Does your company need a Constitution?
Here are some reasons why you should think about a Constitution for your company, rather than simply adopting the ‘replaceable rules’ in the Corporations Act.
How do pre-emption rights work?
Most Shareholder Agreements, Constitutions and Partnership Agreements provide ‘pre-emption’ rights. These are rights that require someone wanting to sell an interest in the enterprise, to first offer the interest to the other equity holders. But they do not necessarily require the majority to buy.
The commoditisation of everything
There really is only one sustainable career or endeavour – commoditisation. This is the work of taking something requiring high levels of knowledge, experience and creativity, and turning it into something that a novice can easily do for themselves, for free. If you want to maintain and grow your real value over an extended period, that is it. There is nothing else.
Is your business ready for sale?
If you’re thinking of selling your business, we bet there are 2 key outcomes you are looking for:
1. Getting the highest purchase price possible; and
2. Being able to make a clean break from the business, so you can think about something else (and maybe even relax or take a holiday).
These outcomes are both realistic and achievable, but it will take some planning before you put the business up for sale.
What happens when someone leaves a partnership?
There are many misconceptions about what happens when someone gives notice to leave a partnership. Often, the other partners want to ‘continue’ the partnership, and they will immediately begin to treat the departing partner as an ‘outsider’. While this may feel correct to the continuing partners, this is not how the law sees things. Read […]
Thinking of buying a hotel or pub? Read this first.
Like any business, hotels have several moving ‘parts’ that need to work together so that the machine runs smoothly. If you are thinking of buying a hotel or similar hospitality business, make sure you are familiar with these unique features before you sign on the dotted line.
I’m a ‘start-up’. How should I set up my new business?
So you’ve just come up with a great business concept, given it a test-drive among your family and friends, and now want to go to the next stage. What do you do? You need to put together the ‘playing field’ for your venture. In other words, you need a ‘business structure’.
Are you first in line? Understanding ‘pre-emption’ clauses
Well drafted ‘pre-emption’ clauses in a Shareholders Agreement or Constitution provide you with important protections. But there are a number of potential traps that you need to be aware of.