Most business plans, particularly start-up business plans,
need to deal with shares at several key points. Shares are shares in ownership. This is why we talk about shares of
stock, and we buy and sell shares on the stock market.
Now, the simplest
one-person business has no need for shares because nobody is sharing anything.
However, as soon as there’s a second person, then sharing is a possibility. Beyond
basic partnerships are the corporations which are normally owned by
shareholders, and each shareholder has some number of shares.
  • How many shares should I have?
  • How many shares am I allowed?
  • How many shares do I give to my
    sister-in-law who helped with the plan?
  • What about shares for my roommate, who
    says it was her idea?
  • What will the investors think?
Questions about
shares and sharing come up frequently as you develop a plan for starting a
business. I’d like to help you answer these types of questions by discussing some
fundamental concepts of shares that belong in a start-up business plan.