Skill Builder - Contracts for Founders

Contracts are one of the most powerful tools to protect your business - yet many founders sign them without fully understanding what they’re agreeing to.

If you’ve ever signed a contract and thought “I hope this is fine…”, you’re not alone. From supplier agreements and partnerships to customer terms and collaborations, contracts quickly become part of running a business - but many founders are left navigating them with limited guidance.

Legal advice can be expensive, particularly in the early stages of building a business. As a result, founders often rely on templates found online or increasingly turn to AI tools to generate contract structures and clauses. While these tools can be useful for creating a starting point, they don’t always highlight the key issues, risks or commercial considerations that founders need to understand before signing an agreement.

This practical workshop is designed to help founders build confidence and clarity around commercial contracts, so you can approach them as a useful business tool rather than something to fear or avoid.

Drawing on over 16 years of experience advising businesses - from early-stage ventures through to ASX-listed companies and investors - Melanie will walk through the fundamentals founders need to understand when entering into commercial agreements.

While this workshop is not a substitute for obtaining professional legal advice for your specific circumstances, it will give you the foundational understanding needed to ask better questions, recognise potential risks, and approach contracts more confidently.

What you’ll learn

In this practical session, Melanie will help you understand:

• How contracts can protect your business and why they are one of the most important risk management tools founders have

• What to think about before entering into an agreement, including key commercial considerations

• The essential terms founders should understand in commercial contracts

• Why it matters who you are actually contracting with - and the risks of getting this wrong

• How to clearly define scope, deliverables and expectations to avoid misunderstandings and disputes

• How to identify clauses that affect liability and risk, and what they could mean for your business

By the end of the session, you’ll have a clearer framework for thinking about contracts, helping you spot potential issues earlier and approach agreements with greater confidence as your business grows.

Who should attend

Early-stage entrepreneurs, startup founders and small business owners who want to better understand the role contracts play in their business and feel more confident navigating them.