Shareholder Agreements: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Have One (and What It Costs Them)

If you're in business with a partner and you don't have a shareholder agreement, you're one disagreement away from an expensive problem.

Most small businesses with co-founders never put an agreement in place. Things are fine while everyone agrees, then someone wants out, stops pulling their weight, or the relationship breaks down, and there's nothing to fall back on. Ken Yip, Lawyer at Lawpath, covers what a shareholder agreement actually does, the clauses that matter most, and why the conversation is far cheaper to have now than after something goes wrong. 

24th September, 2026, 12:00 PM AEST

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In this session, Ken will cover: 

  • What it includes: The core terms every shareholder agreement should cover, and what happens without one
  • Deadlock and disputes: How to resolve a 50/50 standoff before it freezes the business
  • Buy-sell and exit: What happens when a shareholder wants out, dies, or has to leave
  • Drag-along and tag-along: Protecting yourself when the business is sold
  • IP and control: Who owns what, and how decisions actually get made
 

Why Attend?

Have the hard conversation now, while it's cheap and hypothetical. 

Protect the business and yourself

A clear agreement keeps a founder fallout from becoming a business-ending event. 

Grounded in real disputes

Based on the co-founder fallouts Lawpath advisors see, and how an agreement would have changed the outcome. 

Know which clauses actually matter

Ken focuses on the terms that decide what happens when partners disagree, not boilerplate. 

Ask Ken your questions live

In business with a partner? Bring your situation and get answers live. 

 

Limited seats available, register today!

 

 

 

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