An operating agreement can prevent ownership disputes by clearly defining several important operational aspects of the company. You can always draft one yourself, but we prefer getting some professional assistance. On the other hand, hiring a lawyer provides unmatched expertise in creating your operating agreement, but it can be extremely expensive.
Our preferred option is using an operating agreement service. HBS is one of the most popular companies for basic operating agreement templates due to its free pricing model and positive customer feedback. Let’s dig into the details of this service to find out if it’s the right one for you!
Some companies (like Harvard Business Services) offer operating agreement templates that you can fill out yourself. Meanwhile, some competitors provide full-service LLC operating agreement services, presenting each customer with a complete, fully customized document.
If you still need to form your LLC as well, the options only get more intriguing, as there are several highly reputable companies that bundle LLC formation and operating agreement services together into money-saving bundles.
That said, Harvard Business Services only offers operating agreement templates, but it’s a good option for basic operating agreements. Read on to find out why!
Harvard Business Services’ operating agreement template is a popular option, for several reasons. Let’s start with a quick look at some pros and cons before we move into our more detailed analysis.
The state of Delaware has some specialized forms of LLC that require a specific type of operating agreement. The Delaware-exclusive Harvard Business Services includes templates for these LLC operating agreements, including those for series LLCs and multi-member LLCs with three member classes.
While all of the templates offered by Harvard Business Services are specifically tailored to Delaware businesses, the more basic operating agreement templates (single-member and multi-member) could be easily edited for use in other states.
Harvard Business Services opened its doors in 1981, giving this company more longevity than the vast majority of its competitors. HBS has served more than 300,000 customers in this time, a solid level of experience.
When it comes to customer feedback, Harvard Business Services performs well. We found more than 3,500 reviews of its services on reputable third-party review aggregator websites, and nearly all of those reviews were positive. In fact, Harvard Business Services maintains an average rating score of roughly 4.7/5, indicating widespread customer acclaim.
When we dug through these reviews, we noticed a couple of trends. First off, Harvard Business Services customers frequently mention how affordable its services are. Secondly, many customers discuss the company’s solid customer support network and ease of use.
With Harvard Business Services, there are some pros and cons regarding customer support. Starting with the pros, we have always appreciated the quick responses and accurate information we’ve received from Harvard Business Services representatives.
That said, we’re a bit disappointed by the short hours of operation offered by Harvard Business Services. Their representatives are only available from 9 am to 5 pm ET Monday through Thursday, while its Friday hours are cut back to 9 am to 4 pm ET. Unfortunately, this most likely means that you’ll have to take time out of your busy workday to contact them if you need any help.
The entire point of using an operating agreement service is to make the process more convenient than it is to create your own, while also saving you money over hiring an attorney to create it. Thankfully, Harvard Business Services’ operating agreement template has an intuitive user interface that makes it simple to create the document you need.
The process for creating your LLC operating agreement with Harvard Business Services couldn’t be much simpler. All you need to do is scroll down the LLC operating agreement page on the HBS website until you find the one that fits your circumstances.
You can choose from single-member, member-managed multi-member, manager-managed multi-member, multi-member with three member classes, and series LLC operating agreement templates. When you find the one that suits your needs, simply click the download link to save the Microsoft Word file to your computer.
Then, you can simply open the file in Word (or a comparable word processing application) and fill in the pre-populated form. It’s just that easy!
There are more than 3,500 reviews of Harvard Business Services scattered across the web — you can find most of them on Trustpilot, but there are additional handfuls on BBB.org, Facebook, and Google.
The vast majority of this feedback is positive. Averaged across all four of these websites, we found that their average review score is right around 4.7 out of 5 stars. That’s obviously an impressive rating, and it indicates that Harvard Business Services customers are likely to be satisfied with their purchases.
As for the exact content of this feedback, we were able to identify a couple of common threads that we found echoing throughout many of the reviews. The most frequent theme is customers discussing how affordable Harvard Business Services’ price points are, and we agree — most of HBS’ paid services are priced lower than the competition.
In addition, there are plenty of customers mentioning the high-quality customer support and general ease of use provided by the Harvard Business Services platform.
Overall, Harvard Business Services is one of the most popular companies for basic LLC operating agreement templates. We appreciate this company’s free pricing model, and the customized templates for specialized Delaware LLC types are helpful.
If you want to take a look at Harvard Business Services’ competitors for LLC operating agreement templates, or you want to check out full-service options or combo packs with business formation service, our guide to the best LLC operating agreement services has the information you seek.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
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