On October 20, Mykola Syutkin spoke to representatives of small and medium-sized businesses at the first Get Business Festival. The founder and CEO of S&P Investment Risk Management Agency shared insights with entrepreneurs about modern corporate raiding and ways to counteract it. He also discussed how to avoid critical mistakes in the early stages of business development that could later lead to its loss.
Mykola Syutkin emphasized that 90% of the mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting a business are legal in nature. These mistakes create opportunities for interested parties to seize businesses quickly.
“Today’s corporate raiders are no longer just targeting large enterprises and assets. Raiding in Ukraine has now extended to small businesses. If you are developing a micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise and generating stable income, believe me, you are already being considered as a target. The only way to protect yourself from raiders is to avoid making mistakes when launching your business and to ‘play by the rules’ throughout your operations,” he stated in his speech.
The S&P Investment Risk Management Agency founder outlined the key mistakes entrepreneurs make both at the start and during business operations. These include:
- Launching a business without obtaining all necessary permits,
- Relying on verbal agreements instead of formal contracts,
- A lack of legal awareness, and more.
According to Mykola Syutkin, one of the main reasons these mistakes occur is the absence of a legal advisor who can explain their potential consequences. Understanding that many startup entrepreneurs cannot afford expensive lawyers or asset protection consultants, S&P Investment Risk Management Agency invested in the creation of a specialized legal platform, Lawyer.ua.
