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Co-Founder Agreement

Co-Founder Agreement Colombia (Acuerdo de Cofundadores)

Ley 1258 de 2008 (SAS) — Código de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971) — Decisión Andina 486 de 2000

ACUERDO DE COFUNDADORES

(Co-Founder Agreement)

Ley 1258 de 2008 (SAS) — Código de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971) — Decisión Andina 486 de 2000

El presente Acuerdo de Cofundadores (el 'Acuerdo') es celebrado a partir del [Effective Date], entre los cofundadores de [Company Name], una [Entity Type] constituida o por constituirse conforme a las leyes de la República de Colombia, con domicilio principal en [Company City] (la 'Sociedad').

CLÁUSULA PRIMERA — COFUNDADORES, CARGOS Y PARTICIPACIÓN ACCIONARIA INICIAL

Los siguientes son los Cofundadores de la Sociedad:

Cofundador 1: [Founder 1 Name] — CC/CE: [Founder 1 CC] — Cargo: [Founder 1 Role] — Participación inicial: [Founder 1 Equity]

Cofundador 2: [Founder 2 Name] — CC/CE: [Founder 2 CC] — Cargo: [Founder 2 Role] — Participación inicial: [Founder 2 Equity]

Los porcentajes de participación establecidos representan la asignación inicial de acciones a los cofundadores y estarán sujetos al cronograma de vesting estipulado en la Cláusula Segunda. Toda participación está sujeta a dilución por la emisión de acciones adicionales a empleados, asesores e inversionistas, conforme a lo que decida la Asamblea de Accionistas (Ley 1258/2008 Art. 9).

CLÁUSULA SEGUNDA — CRONOGRAMA DE ADQUISICIÓN DE ACCIONES (VESTING)

2.1 Período de vesting. Las acciones de cada cofundador se consolidarán a lo largo de [Vesting Period] contados desde la fecha del presente Acuerdo, sujeto al cliff y demás condiciones establecidos a continuación.

2.2 Cliff. [Cliff Period]. Cumplido el cliff, el saldo de las acciones no consolidadas se consolidará en cuotas mensuales iguales durante el resto del período de vesting.

2.3 Derecho de recompra. Ante la desvinculación de un cofundador por cualquier causa antes de la consolidación total, la Sociedad tendrá el derecho de recomprar la totalidad de las acciones no consolidadas al menor valor entre el precio original de suscripción y el valor intrínseco (valor en libros) a la fecha de desvinculación, conforme al mecanismo de valoración acordado por la Asamblea de Accionistas.

2.4 Aceleración. [Acceleration Provision].

CLÁUSULA TERCERA — CESIÓN DE PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL

3.1 Cesión. [IP Assignment Scope]. Cada cofundador cede irrevocablemente a la Sociedad todos los derechos, títulos e intereses sobre dicha propiedad intelectual, incluyendo invenciones, software, secretos empresariales, marcas, derechos de autor y derechos conexos, conforme a la Decisión Andina 486 de 2000 (propiedad industrial) y la Ley 23 de 1982 (derechos de autor).

3.2 Derechos morales. En la medida en que la ley colombiana lo permita, cada cofundador renuncia a los derechos morales sobre la propiedad intelectual cedida en favor de la Sociedad, conforme al Artículo 30 de la Ley 23 de 1982.

3.3 Confidencialidad. Cada cofundador se obliga a mantener en estricta reserva toda información no pública sobre la Sociedad, su tecnología, clientes, finanzas y estrategia de negocio, tanto durante como después de su vinculación con la Sociedad. La obligación de confidencialidad subsiste por un período de cinco (5) años tras la desvinculación del cofundador.

CLÁUSULA CUARTA — TOMA DE DECISIONES

4.1 Decisiones ordinarias. Las decisiones del día a día dentro del área de responsabilidad de cada cofundador podrán ser adoptadas por éste sin requerir el consentimiento del otro u otros cofundadores.

4.2 Decisiones de especial importancia. Las siguientes decisiones requieren el consentimiento escrito unánime de todos los cofundadores: [Major Decisions]

4.3 Órgano supremo. La Asamblea de Accionistas ejercerá las funciones establecidas en el Artículo 420 del Código de Comercio y el Artículo 17 de la Ley 1258 de 2008. Las decisiones no contempladas en este Acuerdo se adoptarán conforme a los estatutos de la Sociedad.

CLÁUSULA QUINTA — DESVINCULACIÓN Y NO COMPETENCIA

5.1 Derecho de preferencia. Cada cofundador otorga a la Sociedad (y, subsidiariamente, a los demás cofundadores) un derecho de preferencia para adquirir su participación accionaria antes de cualquier venta o transferencia a un tercero, conforme al mecanismo previsto en los estatutos de la Sociedad (Ley 1258/2008 Art. 13).

5.2 No competencia. Durante un período de [Non-Compete Period], el cofundador desvinculado no podrá, directa ni indirectamente, participar en o prestar asistencia a cualquier negocio que compita con la actividad principal de la Sociedad al momento de la desvinculación.

5.3 No captación. Durante los veinticuatro (24) meses siguientes a la desvinculación, el cofundador saliente no podrá solicitar ni reclutar empleados, contratistas o clientes de la Sociedad.

CLÁUSULA SEXTA — DISPOSICIONES GENERALES

6.1 Ley aplicable y jurisdicción. El presente Acuerdo se rige exclusivamente por las leyes de la República de Colombia, incluyendo la Ley 1258 de 2008, el Código de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971), la Ley 222 de 1995 y la Decisión Andina 486 de 2000. Las controversias derivadas de este Acuerdo serán conocidas por el Juzgado Civil del Circuito del domicilio principal de la Sociedad en [Governing City], o, a elección de las partes, por un Tribunal de Arbitramento inscrito en la Cámara de Comercio correspondiente.

6.2 Integralidad. El presente Acuerdo constituye el acuerdo completo entre los Cofundadores respecto al objeto del mismo y sustituye cualquier entendimiento previo sobre la materia.

6.3 Modificaciones. El presente Acuerdo solo podrá ser modificado mediante instrumento escrito firmado por todos los Cofundadores.

6.4 Firmas electrónicas. Las firmas electrónicas tienen plena validez conforme a la Ley 527 de 1999 (Comercio Electrónico) y el Decreto 2364 de 2012.

EN FE DE LO CUAL, los Cofundadores suscriben el presente Acuerdo a partir de la fecha indicada.

COFUNDADOR 1:

Firma: _______________________________ Fecha: _______________

Nombre: [Founder 1 Name]

CC/CE: [Founder 1 CC]

Cargo: [Founder 1 Role]

COFUNDADOR 2:

Firma: _______________________________ Fecha: _______________

Nombre: [Founder 2 Name]

CC/CE: [Founder 2 CC]

Cargo: [Founder 2 Role]

Cofundador 1 (Co-Founder 1)

________________

Signature

Cofundador 2 (Co-Founder 2)

________________

Signature

Maintained by Vladislav Sergienko, Founder·Template last modified: ·Report an error

What Is a Co-Founder Agreement?

A Colombia Co-Founder Agreement is a written contract between two or more individuals who are co-founding a startup company together, establishing the foundational rules governing their ownership, roles, obligations, and rights before the company is formally incorporated at the Camara de Comercio or begins significant operations in Colombia. The agreement addresses the questions that most frequently destroy early-stage companies when left unresolved: how equity is divided, how and when equity vests, who owns the intellectual property, what happens when a founder departs, and how the founders will make and resolve disputes over major decisions.

Co-Founder Agreements operate under general contract law, primarily the Codigo Civil and the Codigo de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971), since there is no single statute specifically governing co-founder relationships in Colombia. The Ley 1258 de 2008 governs the Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada (SAS), the entity form most commonly used by Colombian startups. Pre-incorporation agreements — contracts made before the company is formally registered — are enforceable between the founders as personal obligations under Article 1494 of the Codigo Civil, though they become company obligations once ratified by the new entity after incorporation.

The Co-Founder Agreement is distinct from, but complementary to, other startup formation documents. The estatutos (articles of incorporation under Article 5 of the Ley 1258 de 2008), filed with the Camara de Comercio, create the legal entity and establish its internal governance rules. The registered shareholders' agreement (acuerdo de accionistas under Article 24 of the Ley 1258 de 2008) governs the relationship among shareholders and is binding on the company once duly recorded. The Co-Founder Agreement specifically governs the relationship between the founders themselves — their equity, vesting, roles, and obligations to the company — and typically predates all these other documents.

Founder equity vesting — the mechanism by which co-founders earn their ownership stake over time rather than receiving it all immediately — is one of the most critical features of a Co-Founder Agreement. In a Colombian SAS, vesting is implemented through transfer restrictions (Article 13 of the Ley 1258 de 2008) or repurchase rights exercisable by the company or the remaining shareholders when a founder departs before completing the agreed period. The standard schedule adopted by the Colombian startup ecosystem — promoted by accelerators such as Ruta N (Medellin), iNNpulsa Colombia, and Wayra — is a four-year vest with a one-year cliff: the founder earns no equity during the first 12 months, receives 25% of their total equity grant on the one-year anniversary (the cliff), and then earns the remaining 75% ratably over the following 36 months (monthly or quarterly).

Intellectual property assignment is the second most critical component of a Co-Founder Agreement. Under Colombian copyright law (Ley 23 de 1982 and Decision Andina 351 de 1993), works created by an individual are owned by that individual, not by a company they later form, unless the work was created within an employment relationship or the individual assigns the rights in writing. Under industrial property law (Decision Andina 486 de 2000), inventions made by an individual belong to the inventor, not to a company, unless assigned and registered with the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC). A Co-Founder Agreement's IP assignment clause bridges this gap by requiring each founder to assign all IP created in connection with the company's business — including pre-formation IP — to the company.

When Do You Need a Co-Founder Agreement?

A Co-Founder Agreement is needed before two or more individuals begin working together on a startup business in Colombia, and ideally before any significant time, money, or IP development is invested in the venture.

The agreement should be signed before any of the co-founders begins writing code, developing a product, approaching potential customers, or spending money on the business. Pre-formation work that is not covered by a written IP assignment may remain the personal property of the founder who created it, creating serious complications when the company seeks investment or is acquired. Venture capital firms active in Colombia — such as Kaszek Ventures, Monashees, and the iNNpulsa and Bancoldex Capital funds — conducting due diligence routinely identify missing IP assignments as a significant risk that must be remediated before closing an investment.

A Co-Founder Agreement is critical when founders have asymmetric contributions — when one founder brings technical skills, one brings business development experience, one contributes capital, and another contributes an existing customer relationship or patent. The agreement documents these contributions and ties them to the equity split, preventing later disputes about whether the allocation was fair.

Startup accelerators and incubators active in Colombia such as Ruta N (Medellin), iNNpulsa Colombia, Wayra (Telefonica), and the Apps.co program of the MinTIC require participating companies to have signed Co-Founder Agreements and standard founder vesting schedules in place as a condition of acceptance. Seed-stage angel investors and pre-seed venture capital funds similarly expect to see Co-Founder Agreements as part of their diligence review, both to confirm founder commitment (through vesting) and to confirm that all IP belongs to the company.

A Co-Founder Agreement is especially important when founders are coming from prior employers in the same industry. Under Colombian trade secret and unfair competition law (Decision Andina 486 de 2000 and Ley 256 de 1996), a co-founder who brings proprietary information from a prior employer to the new company creates potential liability. The Co-Founder Agreement should address each founder's obligations regarding prior employer IP and prior contractual restrictions.

When a co-founding team includes founders in different Colombian cities — Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla — or members based abroad, a written agreement is essential to establish Colombian law as the governing law and to designate the city of domicile of the future SAS under Article 5 of the Ley 1258 de 2008, particularly for non-compete and non-solicitation provisions whose enforceability depends on being reasonable in scope, time, and territory.

Under the Codigo de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971), the Camara de Comercio maintains the Registro Mercantil of Colombian companies. The Ley 1258 de 2008 governs Sociedades por Acciones Simplificadas (SAS). The Superintendencia de Sociedades supervises corporate governance. The DIAN (Direccion de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales) administers the Impuesto de Renta and IVA under the Estatuto Tributario (Decreto 624 de 1989).

What to Include in Your Co-Founder Agreement

A thorough Co-Founder Agreement must address the full range of founding-team issues to provide a durable governance framework for the early stage of the company.

The equity ownership schedule states each co-founder's initial equity percentage, the total authorized, subscribed, and paid shares under Article 9 of the Ley 1258 de 2008, and the class of shares (ordinary, privileged, or with special restrictions under Articles 10 to 13 of the Ley 1258 de 2008). The equity split should reflect each founder's relative contributions and should be expressed both as a percentage and as a specific share count to avoid ambiguity.

The vesting schedule governs how each founder earns their equity over time. The standard provision is a four-year vest with a one-year cliff: 25% vests at the one-year anniversary, and the remaining 75% vests ratably over the next 36 months. The agreement should address acceleration provisions — whether unvested shares accelerate on sale of the company (single trigger), on termination following a sale (double trigger), or not at all.

The roles and responsibilities section defines each co-founder's title (CEO/Gerente General, CTO, COO, etc.), primary areas of responsibility, and expected time commitment (full-time, part-time, or advisory). The legal representative of the SAS acts as gerente general with the powers granted by the estatutos under Article 25 of the Ley 1258 de 2008. If different founders have different levels of commitment at launch, the agreement should address how the equity split accounts for this asymmetry.

The capital contributions section records any cash, property, or IP contributed to the company by each founder at formation, and the treatment of that contribution — whether as a purchase price for equity, a loan to the company, or a gift.

The intellectual property assignment clause requires each founder to assign to the company all IP created in connection with the company's business, including pre-formation inventions, software, trade secrets, and copyrightable works related to the company's field of activity. The clause should include a list of prior inventions that each founder specifically excludes from the assignment.

The departure provisions address what happens when a founder leaves: the vesting schedule determines equity retained; unvested shares are repurchased by the company at nominal (par) value or subscription cost; the company and remaining founders have a right of first refusal (derecho de preferencia) on the departing founder's vested shares under Article 13 of the Ley 1258 de 2008 before any third-party transfer; and the departing founder's legal representative or director position is vacated.

The non-compete and non-solicitation restrictions prevent a departing founder from immediately working for or founding a competing company and from soliciting the company's employees and customers. These provisions must be carefully drafted to be enforceable under Colombian law: the Codigo Sustantivo del Trabajo and Ley 256 de 1996 (unfair competition) require post-departure restrictions to be reasonable in scope, time, and territory to be enforceable.

The confidentiality obligations require each founder to maintain the confidentiality of the company's proprietary information during and after their involvement with the company, supplementing any separate non-disclosure agreement the company may use. The forms-legal.com Co-Founder Agreement template covers the mandatory elements under the Ley 1258 de 2008 (SAS) and the Codigo de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971).

Under the Codigo de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971), the Camara de Comercio maintains the Registro Mercantil of Colombian companies. The Ley 1258 de 2008 governs Sociedades por Acciones Simplificadas (SAS). The Superintendencia de Sociedades supervises corporate governance. The DIAN (Direccion de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales) administers the Impuesto de Renta and IVA under the Estatuto Tributario (Decreto 624 de 1989).

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BibTeX
@misc{formslegal-co-founder-agreement,
  author       = {{Forms Legal}},
  title        = {Co-Founder Agreement (Colombia)},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://forms-legal.com/colombia/business/corporate/co-founder-agreement}},
  note         = {Free legal document template. Based on Ley 1258 de 2008 (SAS); Codigo de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971)}
}

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Frequently Asked Questions

Based on Ley 1258 de 2008 (SAS); Codigo de Comercio (Decreto 410 de 1971) — Template last modified June 2026

This template is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change over time. Consult a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation.Full disclaimer

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