Shareholder Agreements 101

Our introductory guide to shareholders agreement - Lean what they are, when to use them, and how to enforce them if needed.

A shareholder agreement is one of the most fundamental agreements that any founder should put in place if they are having fellow shareholders. Some people think that you only need a shareholder agreement to protect minority shareholders, but that is not correct. In many ways, it is needed to protect the majority shareholder.

Majority shareholders need to consider things like:

  • Pre-emption rights
  • Drag along rights

Not sure what a pre-emption right or drag along right is? We cover these in more detail below.