Most Owner Agreements are Doomed to Fail Before a Lawyer Ever Gets Involved
The threats to business value are not random. A conflict between owners over
direction or compensation. The death or disability of a co-owner whose state
now holds an interest you have to deal with. A sale that falls apart because the owners can’t agree on price. These are foreseeable. They are preventable. An owner agreement — done right — plans against all of them.
The Owner Agreement Project
A guided process for business co-owners who want to protect the value they’ve built.
To implement an owner agreement that holds, owners must first do three things a lawyer cannot do for them: articulate their values with respect to the business, install a decision-making process, and document their decisions in a succession plan. Only then does the legal drafting become straightforward.
The Owner Agreement Project guides owners through that process — start to
finish.
How it works
Foundation
Owners articulate their values and install a decision-making process. The
foundation for everything that follows.
Plan
Key decisions are documented in a written succession plan — ownership transfers, governance, buy-sell triggers, valuation, and funding.
Agreement
Engagement of legal counsel and an appraiser. Drafting and execution of the
owner agreement. Annual review process established.
Why a consultant, not a lawyer
A lawyer represents one owner. That creates confidentiality duties and
conflicts when multiple owners are at the table. I work at the business level. I work with all owners transparently. I facilitate the decisions that make the legal document possible.
I’m Rick Riebesell. I’ve spent decades helping business owners navigate
transitions — buying, selling, restructuring, and succession. I’m a lawyer,
but work as a consultant who gets all owners ready to execute.
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