As a startup-orientated law firm, we at Nordic Law have had
several early-stage startup clients with the recurring, oldie but
goldie, question – do we really need to have a shareholders
agreement (SHA) as we are all good friends and we all go way back?
Down the line, without exception, we always advise our startup
clients that they never should start a business without an SHA, let
alone grow a business without it. With a well-functioning SHA, the
founders and shareholders of a startup are able to solve, even
possibly severe, problems beforehand and at its best an SHA
minimizes the pressure of the shareholders enabling the
shareholders to focus only on developing the business operations
knowing that the core rules of the startup are clear, comprehensive
and predictable. In other words, the yellow brick road to success
is most often paved with a well-written SHA.
