The governance layer your startup actually runs on.
Your Founder Agreement is a document. ESSOR makes it operational. A living governance layer that keeps decisions fast and compliant when everything goes well, and keeps the company moving when it doesn't.
Your Founder Agreement exists. It just doesn't live.
The Shareholders' & Founders Agreement are already the standard of startup governance. Every investor-backed company has one. But it's a static document: it cannot self-enforce, it cannot adapt, and it cannot protect you the moment someone stops playing by the rules.
The Standard is Static
Your SHA defines the rules. But rules on paper don't run payroll, don't unlock bank accounts, and don't stop a silent veto from paralyzing your board.
The Governance Gap
Between board meetings, nothing is enforced. Founders drift. Roles blur. The SHA collects dust until the day it urgently matters, and by then, it's too late to act cleanly.
Conflict Reveals the Flaw
Founder disputes don't create the vulnerability, they expose it. The flaw was always there: a governance layer that only exists on paper.
One layer. Two modes.
ESSOR isn't only a crisis tool. It's the operational layer your governance should always have had, running quietly when things are fine, activating automatically when they aren't.
Operate
When everything is going well
- Fast SHA Setup
Configure your founders' agreement in minutes. ESSOR guides you through standard clauses, flags non-conventional terms, and builds a machine-readable governance baseline.
- Living Board Resolutions
Log, sign, and store decisions with a complete audit trail. No more PDF chains. No more "did we formally approve this?"
- Cap Table Anchoring
Your governance rules stay synchronized with your actual cap table. Role changes, new rounds, and vesting milestones update the enforcement layer automatically.
Protect
When something goes wrong
- Safe Mode Activation
When a founder becomes unresponsive or non-cooperative, ESSOR shifts into Safe Mode: essential operations continue, high-risk actions are locked, and a formal record is opened.
- Asset & Account Freeze
Prevent "hostage-taking" of cloud infrastructure, bank accounts, and IP. No founder can use access as leverage during a dispute.
- Legal Fact-Base
Every action, notification, and response is timestamped and immutable. Your GC and investors get a clean chronological dossier — not a WhatsApp thread.
Set up your governance in minutes, for a fraction of the cost.
ESSOR walks you through the clauses that matter. Select, configure, and understand each provision, with smart defaults for standard deals and red flags for anything unusual.
No more paying $500/hr to have a lawyer explain why you need a vesting cliff. ESSOR explains it, enforces it, and remembers it.
See the full demo →Starting with the hardest problem.
ESSOR's first release focuses on founder inactivity: when a co-founder stops contributing but retains the power to block critical decisions. It's the most common, most costly, and most avoidable form of startup paralysis. We turn personal friction into a structured, governed workflow.
Convert vague inactivity into a formal, timestamped governance record.
Prevent hostage-taking of cloud accounts, bank access, or IP, automatically.
Generate a clean legal fact-base for mediation, buyouts, or board resolution.
Built for everyone at the table.
Your governance layer is missing. Let's build it.
ESSOR is currently in private MVP. Request a walkthrough to see the full workflow.