Шесть договоренностей, которые должны заключить совладельцы фирмы чтобы не ходить по судам.

Recently, the newspaper Äripäev wrote two pages about the owners’ disputes with Ridango, best known for developing a card validation system for public transport in Tallinn. The company is not small – 54 employees, eight million euros of turnover, almost one and a half million euros of profit earned in 2016.

So, two shareholders who control 42.5% of the company through a joint company quarreled. One accuses the other that the money was illegally withdrawn, he is rushed in response that everything was correct and agreed. Resentment for resentment, paper for paper, lawyer for lawyer. The case has already reached statements to the prosecutor’s office demanding to initiate a criminal case, and in general, only lawyers will make money on this case. Although shareholders do not participate in the operational management of the company (fortunately there is a hired director), all these disassemblies have a bad effect on the company’s image. As far as I know, rather large investments were planned in the company, which did not take place.

This is one of the examples when the owners who quarreled among themselves begin to destroy their own business without wanting to. This happens because, having started the business, the owners were interested in developing the business in order to move it forward. But at that moment they did not think about putting their relationship on paper. It is so natural – we are all people and none of us wants to think about the bad, that the people with whom we do business may not be decent; that the employees we hire may deceive us; that partners do not always keep their promises, and so on. We just rely on people, especially we all rely on our business partners. And I hoped and my hopes were not justified. Over time, disagreements arise, which led to the fact that the company began to lose profits and, as a result, the owners began to lose profits.

So that disagreements between the owners do not destroy the machine for the production of banknotes, it is necessary at the very beginning to come to an agreement on six points.

How will we share the profit and when will it be divided? The main reason for the disagreement of the owners is the different understanding of the contribution to the company and, as a result, the disagreement about how to divide the profit and when to share it. Often, one brought an idea to the company, another brought money, who does what is not spelled out, one works more than the other, and they want to share the profit starting from the third month. It is necessary to prescribe who, when and for what part of the profit can claim, what will be directed to the development of the company, what will go to the reserve.

We need to agree on how disagreements will be resolved. Disagreements will inevitably arise in the company – therefore, it is necessary to clearly state which issues are resolved by 100% consensus (for example, the issue of taking a loan), and in which issues the opinions of the owner who has more experience in this area should be taken into account.

It is necessary to agree on how the owners will disperse. It can always happen that the partners disperse and for this case it is necessary to agree in advance how to transfer cases; at what price each of the partners can sell their share; how the company will be valued so that there are no disputes over the value of the company; whether partners have a priority right to purchase and much more.
It is necessary to agree on how the owners will change the company’s strategy. During the life of the company, the strategy of the company can change many times depending on the requirements of the market. It is necessary to stipulate in advance the frequency with which the owners will meet and discuss the company’s development strategies, otherwise the company may wither.

One of the most important agreements is how the owners will analyze the financial results of the company. If you do not agree in advance on how to analyze finances, which is important for the owners, otherwise it will inevitably turn out that the co-owners look in different directions, analyze companies in different ways and they have disagreements on how to develop the company.
All agreements must be made in writing. People understand things differently, and in order not to argue later about who had what in mind, all agreements must be written down on paper.