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Are there any good and short agreements document for founders? (not investors)

Focusing on:

  1. Responsibility, e.g. hours of work (some of them may not be fulltime)
  2. Vesting period

Any hints?

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1 Answer

The one I have used contains the following sections:

  • Parties entering into the agreement (e.g. you and your co-founder)
  • What each party brings to the venture (e.g. patents, code, etc.)
  • Any initial equity investment amounts
  • What that equity investment gets
  • Minium hours per week or month dedicated to the venture
  • Salary for those hours (Don't put in anything about deferred payment or anything like that).
  • Initial founders share grant or ownership percentage
  • Title and job description
  • Exit clause (e.g. what happens if they leave)
  • All intellectual property generated will be owned by the new company
  • Agreement timeframe (e.g. how long to either do a new agreement or found the company)
  • Dispute resolution (e.g. binding arbitration, court, etc.)
  • Governing law (e.g. what laws will apply. Like California, Santa Clara County).

This is just what I have used in the past. You should really talk to a lawyer about what else could be in something like this. You may want to draft an initial document and then send it to a lawyer for review.

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