According to fundsquire Britain’s start-up scene has been growing exponentially in the last few years, with 77 new companies founded every hour in 2021! SMEs account for 99.9% of companies in the UK and account for over 50% of the turnover of UK companies. SMEs are important.
The number of things to consider when starting your own business can be daunting: choosing a company name, business plans to create, deciding on a structure and registering your business, designing a website, the list goes on and on.
However, no matter what type of business you have there is one underlying consideration: every new company requires contracts and other legal documents to ensure compliance with ever increasing regulations. These may include:
- Terms of business and customer contracts
- Website terms and conditions
- Privacy Policy
- Procurement contracts for SaaS and consultancy services
- Channel partner agreements
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Project agreements
Although contracts may seem dull, the relationships they govern are your business.
The easiest way to create consistent documentation is to use document assembly tools. This provides document generation according to a clear set of questions and answers. The Mattersmith Productivity Centre contains a range of templates which can be modified to suit different situations with the answers provided. Premium members can draft their own templates, or we will gladly prepare them for you.
During negotiations it is important to have your business policies and interests at the heart of the discussions. Commercial contract lawyers, such as Mattersmith are able to negotiate the best possible position for your business, however the Mattersmith Productivity Centre guides you through the process of reviewing an NDA and typical issues in commercial contracts. Our Microsoft Word Add-In helps you review documents thoroughly and faster within Word itself, reducing the risk of error, and therefore providing peace of mind. Basic Plan members can use our checklists of key words and phrases in conjunction with our Word Add-In for free.
Once these valuable documents and contracts have been agreed it is vital that they are stored safely to ensure easy access when required. As reported by the Journal of Contract Management “71% of companies are unable to find 10% or more of their contracts”. Your company’s obligations are linked to these contracts and so it is vital that they are readily accessible. The Mattersmith Productivity Centre provides Doc-Tracker, a repository for your contracts with a search facility, alerts to keep you ahead of the game in time for key milestones, and a report feature enables you to track trends and highlight risks.
Mattersmith is a boutique law firm committed to improving the productivity of legal and contractual processes. To this end we have developed technology to reduce the time it takes to reach a valuable position. If we can help you with your commercial contracts, please contact us at: ms-legalservices@mattersmith.co.uk
