The shareholders agreement is often one of those documents that startups sometimes forgo or even 'bootstrap' by cutting and pasting from other documents without taking independent legal advice.

All company directors have one overarching duty which is to promote the success of their business. This duty on one hand seems a simple notion but, as Mark Glenister a specialist in Commercial Law at JPP Law explains, differences of opinion about how success will be achieved can lead to boardroom disputes and have a detrimental effect on the company's success.

Power among the shareholders of a company is generally measured by the size of their shareholdings and accordingly their voting rights. Usually, the more shares you hold the more power you have over the company itself.