Shareholder Agreement for e-Residency companies

Most of the e-residency companies are one-man companies. It’s no surprise, as the e-residency concept appeals to digital nomads and freelancers – e-residency is cost-effective, online, does not require physical presence, and yet, the company is located in the EU (credible jurisdiction).

However, the e-residency is not only for the solopreneurs. There are plenty of e-residency companies which have more than one shareholder. Once there is more than one person involved, it means there are different personalities, visions, needs, different levels of hustle, etc. It may feel that you’re doing more than your partner, but he has the same amount of shares! Sometimes, it’s just a matter of miscommunicated expectations, but there are too many ventures which friends start together, but end up with a broken relationship.

To avoid this scenario, it’s important for each founder to have his or her own area of responsibility in the company. In the beginning, it’s quite common that both founders do the same things, or more precisely, both are doing everything that needs to be done. It’s fine and good until it isn’t – at some point, you really have to focus on different areas within the business to make it work.

Ok – so that’s a good first step. However, the relationship can still blow up, especially when times are tough, or even when times are good, but founders have different visions for the company. Hence, it’s always wise to do a shareholder agreement for the founders.

In the shareholder agreement, you can highlight all the crucial terms of the relationship – how some decisions are made, how the founder can exit from the company, what’s the responsibility of each party, how the performance is evaluated, non-compete, non-solicitation of the employees, intellectual property, confidentiality and so forth.

As e-residency companies are usually rather small, then these things do not seem to be important.

Until they are and it’s too late.

Contact us for a shareholder agreement. We have special deals for e-Residency companies.

Comistar provides business, legal and tax support for e-residency companies. Our core focus is on Fintech licensing, e-commerce companies, blockchain industry and affiliate marketers. We’ve been operating for over 5 years and have helped more than 300 companies to get started in Estonia.