Whether your business is startup or a full-fledged one, maintaining certain legal documents is crucial to protect your startup from a legal perspective. Having a strong structure and well-drafted legal documents in place will protect your startup from launch, through growth and all the way to acquisition. Data conversion services can convert legal records into easy-to-manage file format, such as a standard searchable PDF document format.
Some of the legal documents that startup founders should put into place to avoid costly legal battles are:
Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement
This agreement provides assurance to investors that the founders have legally transferred to the company the intellectual property required to run the business. The intellectual property might be a software copyright, a secret recipe, or a pending patent for a new device.
Shareholders Agreement
For a company with one or more partners, a shareholder agreement defines the shareholders’ relationship to each other, each party’s roles within the company, their duties and obligations. This agreement should include buy-sell clauses that explain how to handle a shareholder if anything goes wrong.
Employment or Contractor Agreement
With new employees or contractors assisting you in growing your business, you will need to prepare your employment or contractor agreements. This agreement helps set out the role of the worker, their remuneration and benefits, any leave entitlements, what expectations you may have of them and more.
Business Terms and Conditions
Without exact terms and conditions you put yourself at risk of uncertainty and misunderstandings. Make sure to have a well-drafted set of business terms and conditions drafted and easily viewable and accepted by all of your clients or customers. Getting these terms right is crucial to ensuring healthy cashflow. With the right terms in place, however, you can ensure that you get paid first.
Client Agreement
Startups selling services and products to clients should have a client agreement. A well-drafted client contract will specifically provide information on what the client will receive, which helps avoid disputes. For every new client, a master client agreement can be amended.
Privacy Policy
A strong privacy policy is critical for any business as it helps to gain trust and transparency with customers and meet your obligations under the Privacy Act. This policy will provide a clear idea on how you will protect the information collected from users, how you store it and provide confirmation that you will not disclose it to any third parties.
Non-disclosure Agreements (NDA)
Every business has certain information that should remain private, such as customer list, financial records, or ideas for a new pricing plan. Making your employees sign an NDA is your key step of defense to protect this confidential information. This agreement provides protection against having your information disclosed to competitors.
Depending on the nature of your startup and business model, additional documents may be required. Companies experienced in document management, legal document scanning and storage helps you to digitize confidential data and store it in the required format.
Read our blog on Key Legal Documents That A Startup Business Cannot Avoid
