Bylaws aren't just for lawyers. 

Earlier, we explained that a corporation's bylaws represent a kind of a contract among shareholders, or between the corporation and its shareholders. There, we urged investors to read this contract. 

About this time of year, activist investors should have started to think through the approach to an underperforming portfolio company. You should start now to plan for 2016 annual meetings, and the notifications and nominations needed to make an impact. 

Sure, it's tedious enough reading 10-Ks and 10-Qs, and worse yet, proxy statements. Yet, you wouldn't enter into any other deal without reading the contract. For a large enough position, and especially one that demands activist thinking, a PM should also read the portfolio company's bylaws. 

They're written in relatively plain English, and are at most 10-15 pages long. You don't need an attorney to become familiar enough with the basic terms of the contract. An intelligent PM can focus on a few sections, and mostly ignore the others.

We identify what we read (and ignore) in our current blog post.