Nothing can slow down a business like the courtroom, particularly in India. It costs money, you invest effort and – worst of all – it can shift your focus from growing your business to a petty matter. This is why every business must take measures to ensure minimal damage in case any relationship – between co-founders or with rivals, clients and employees – is headed the wrong way. Let’s find out what these measures are:
Arrive At A Consensus
Your co-founders may be your friends or family, but you can never be too sure. Disagreements can grow, over what the role of each founder is, what the vision for the business is, among much else. This needs to be discussed by all those concerned. Sure, it will be difficult and you may have some tough days at the office. But it will be worth it once it’s resolved, as such conversations tend to build respect between teams.
A Founders’ Agreement, being a binding agreement, also puts to rest any confusion over the actions of any promoter. For example, it will address crucial matters, such as what will happen in case a founder-member leaves in say, under a year. It will also keep you out of the courtroom. Remember The Social Network? Imagine how much shorter it would be if Eduardo Saverin had just signed a founders’ agreement with Mark Zuckerberg.
Be Clear With Your Clients
Gone are the days when Customer is King was little more than an adage. In the Internet age, you need to live up to it. After all, they can do serious damage on social media if the matter is small and even take you to court if the need arises. So be nice and tell them the terms and conditions of using your website or service and what you do with information they provide you.
These agreements are binding; while documents that are too one-sided are regularly set aside by the courts, it does help to have these regardless because they can keep people from issuing frivolous complaints.
Comply With The Rules
We shouldn’t even be discussing this, but more than a third of Indian businesses end up paying fines over non-compliance. There are no bills or reminders. But if you don’t do your annual filings, hire an auditor, maintain the minutes of your board meetings, you’ll one day receive notice for a fine, which can go up to Rs. 5 lakh for LLPs and Rs. 1 lakh for private limited companies.
Related Read: Why You Have To Register Your Startup As LLP !
Aside from this, there are also registrations for service tax and VAT you need to do, depending on the nature of your business and turnover. And if you don’t make the payments and file the returns, there’s fine for these too. It may sound like a lot, which is why many don’t end up complying at all, but it’s part of your business and you have no choice. If you consistently fail to comply, you could even be blacklisted.
De-Risk Outside Engagement
By outside engagement we mean everyone besides the promoters of the company. You may not want to be suspicious about your employees and business partners. But that’s exactly why you need to have them sign non-disclosure and non-compete agreements with the company. This applies even more if the company you’re building is new or untested.
You may feel awkward asking them to sign one, but it’s part of the game. If they’re professional, they won’t mind one bit. After all, think of all you’re putting at risk every day you let them access your code, business plans or customer database.
Protect Your IP
Your brand, content and inventions are valuable, and their value will only increase as your business grows. So it should go without saying that it needs protection. Now, this is largely because while intellectual property is always the property of the owner, it is generally assumed that the first person to file for registration is the owner.
This applies to trademark, copyright and patents. So if you fail to protect these before someone else does, you may end up spending months in the courtroom to prove that your IP is actually yours.
Related Read: 9 Common Startup Legal Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Need To Avoid !
(Disclaimer: This is a guest post submitted on Techstory by the mentioned authors.All the contents and images in the article have been provided to Techstory by the authors of the article. Techstory is not responsible or liable for any content in this article.)
About The Author:
Hrishikesh Datar, Founder and Chief Executing Officer atVakilsearch, from National Law School, Bangalore, leads the company’s business from the helm. His insights about the business and his in-depth knowledge of the industry contribute extensively to the strategic vision of the company. So appreciated was his idea of online legal assistance that CNBC TV18 featured Vakilsearch on its longest running entrepreneurial show, Young Turks.
As part of the long term plan, Hrishikesh is constantly trying to identify the next innovation in legal professional service delivery. With unbound support from the team, Hrishikesh has taken on the challenge of building a billion dollar company in India which aims to change the way consumers in India view legal professional services.
