Article · 12 min read

How to Draft a Co-founders Agreement: A Complete Guide

Razorpay Rize Free Beginner India

The India edge on paper. It states plainly that "equal splits are often unfair," then does what the US pieces skip: it turns our tie-breaker advice into an actual clause set for an Indian Pvt Ltd or LLP, voting protocols, deadlock provisions, and mediation/arbitration for when two founders lock horns, plus the 4-year, 1-year-cliff vesting. A handshake 50/50 is not a founders agreement; this shows you what the document that prevents the deadlock actually contains under Indian contract law.

• A written agreement, not a verbal 50/50, is what encodes your tie-breaker: voting rights, deadlock clauses, and arbitration
• Define roles (who is CEO with the final call) up front to prevent the power struggles that stall decisions
• Bake in vesting, good/bad leaver terms, and IP assignment so a departing cofounder can't hold the cap table hostage