Founders Agreement UK — What Should You Include Before Splitting Equity?

I have been digging into how a founders agreement UK actually works before finalising one for my own startup. There is a lot of generic advice online, but I wanted to break down what actually matters, especially for early stage UK startups, rather than just listing legal jargon without explaining why any of it is important.

From what I have gathered so far, a solid founders agreement usually covers a few key areas. Equity split is the obvious one, how ownership is divided between founders, and vesting schedules that release equity gradually over time so a founder who leaves early does not walk away with a large chunk of the company for very little contribution, something often called the ghost founder problem. Roles and responsibilities also matter, clearly setting out who does what, and what happens if those responsibilities shift as the company grows and priorities change.

Decision making is another area that tends to get overlooked, covering voting rights and how disagreements or deadlocks actually get resolved if founders cannot agree on something important. IP ownership is also critical, making sure the company itself owns the core assets, code, and intellectual property, rather than it technically belonging to an individual founder who built it before proper agreements were in place. Exit and leaver clauses round this out, covering what happens if a founder leaves early, wants to be bought out, or needs to be removed from the company entirely.

A lot of founders skip putting this in writing early on because it feels awkward to negotiate with someone you trust, but that discomfort is exactly why it needs to be documented before real problems come up, since verbal understandings tend to fall apart under pressure once money or control is actually at stake.

Has anyone here used a lawyer, a template, or a service to draft their founders agreement UK? Would love to hear what worked, or did not, for your startup, and anything you wish you had included from the start.