New Business Essentials?

[roadsweeper]

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Oops, this is supposed to be in the Business section - could a mod possibly move it for me please? Thanks. roadie.

Hi all

My general question is, what are the 'essential' (i.e. strongly recommended even if not legally required) requirements for setting up a limited company with three partners?

Specifically:

(1) Must a company legally have a Managing Director, and if not it is unusual not to have an MD?

(2) Does the title of MD imply seniority over other directors even where the other directors are equal partners? My understanding is that the partners ultimately make the decisions and the board of directors execute them?

(3) Where can I get a shareholders' agreement or
equivalent from? I want to make sure that we are equal shareholders with equal rights and that if anyone wants to sell up then the other two get first call on 50% of the shares each at a fair price dictated by an independent party accepted by all of us as objective.

(4) Someone told me that one of the partners must have the largest sharehlding, i.e. that you cannot truly split a company equally three ways - is this true?

(5) What insurance should I be looking for? We are a software company and will initially just have the three partners/directors working but might have to take others on. Do we need public liability insurance and employers liability insurance?

(6) Can we insure against ourselves from software we write failing, causing loss to a client and us being sued as a result?

(7) What figure would you expect to pay for the accounts for a company turning over, say, £100k/yr with most of the contracts being fairly large and just the three directors as employees?

(8) What bank would you recommend for a small business?

(9) Can you recommend any good websites, etc. for learning about these kind of things?

(10) Are there any questions I should be asking that I haven't?

Thanks in advance - I know I'm asking a lot but hopefully this could be a valuable thread for others too, I know I will appreciate it.

Cheers.

Lee.

>>> Edited by roadsweeper on Saturday 12th February 11:28