Avoiding The Pitfalls of Old School Template Legal Agreements (Or No Agreements At All)…

If you are serious about your new paradigm business, please do not think that template agreements (or no agreements) are the way to go.

Too many of us have learned this mistake the hard way.

For most people, this piece ends up costing tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars in wasted legal fees and co-founder dispute settlements;

But worst of all, it all too often also costs the relationships we care about;

Because being in a legal dispute with someone you love(d), were co-creating with or that you really care(d) about — especially where all or most of your money is involved — is one of the most agonizingly painful and heartbreaking things you can go through;

Just ask any of the people currently going through a divorce.

So if you’ve had an inspired new paradigm idea;

You’ve attracted a handful of people who resonate deeply with it;

You have a enough resources to embark on the co-creative journey together;

And you know you need some kind of formal agreement now, because it’s time to get clear on who owns what, how resources get distributed, and how decisions get made;

Then while I understand the temptation to either:

(1) Not sign any agreement — because you “love and trust each other soooooo much” and you don’t believe in or want to spend the time on the legal agreement now; OR

(2) Go straight to Legal Zoom to get a GENERIC TEMPLATE and fill it out yourself because you don’t want to spend your time, attention and resource on the boring legal part (and you figure, it’ll be “good enough” to do the job);

Know that by signing NO AGREEMENT you risk everything you’ve created being the subject of dispute that you have little to no control over later down the line; OR

By signing an old school agreement, you run the risk that you’re signing into a whole host of invisible energetic dynamics that will affect your business AND impact your co-founder relationships.