Tagged Questions

1
vote
2answers
75 views

Question about terminating contract with employee

Not sure if this the right place to ask but here it goes: We (myself and 2 founders) found our startup about a year ago. Then we brought on an employee to work part-time and had him sign a contract. ...
1
vote
1answer
111 views

Startup equity for employee - real stock or option

For an earlier employee (not C level title), is it common to pay via option instead of real stock equity? Assume both need to suffer from 4 year vesting schedule with 1 year cliff.
2
votes
1answer
163 views

How should early employees be compensated if founders have left and the company has pivoted?

I realize that Joel Spoelsky has written an extensive summary of how equity should be allocated (namely, fairly), but I was wondering how things might differ in slightly different circumstances... I ...
0
votes
0answers
188 views

As an Early Employee | Equity vs ESOP? and how much?

I have been working in a startup for quite some time now. Recently they have raised seed capital so now going to formalize stuff. They have given me an option to choose between Equity or ESOPs. I am ...
1
vote
1answer
101 views

Equity when joining an established business

Given an offer to join an established company, earning at least a couple of million a year in revenue (under 10 employees) and which is a subsidiary to a multi billion dollar parent company; what is a ...
0
votes
2answers
256 views

0.5% equity and 2k/month to be the #1 CDO in a startup

I really need your help. It 's the first time I've been asked to work for a startup. The company has already been made​​, founded by 2 partners, and has already received an initial investment, but has ...
2
votes
1answer
148 views

Where to post job for early stage startup

We are bootstrapping and offering equity. We're seeking a front end developer. We posted on startuply.com but are looking for other places. We used one location on craigslist. Anywhere else we should ...
3
votes
1answer
934 views

What's a good ratio between founder equity and early employee equity?

I'm looking into the equity for the 2nd employee of an early-stage startup. I've seen lots of rules of thumbs out there (some people say 1%) but it's hard to apply because some rules of thumb refer ...
-1
votes
2answers
207 views

What title to give to a non-founder first person in company

This question is a follow up to another question but it stands as a question by itself so i decided to ask it separately.. i am a single-founder starting a company and hence looking for ...
1
vote
2answers
351 views

Where to find designers / programmers for equity

Investors want to see the finished project (+ maybe private beta results). I came a long way, but I have the feeling that I cant run the last couple of miles without being surpassed by competition. I ...
1
vote
2answers
464 views

Compensation for early startup employee - what is the right balance?

If my company is profitable and able to pay early startup employee at the market salary (compare to MSFT, Google, Apple etc) , should I still need to pay for significant amount of option to them? ...
2
votes
2answers
745 views

Founder stocks and Employee pool

Is it common to issue equity to CEO as Preferred stock but other co-founders as Common stock? When setting up a 20% employee pool, it is common to have terms that the unissued equity will be issued ...
0
votes
1answer
92 views

Employee Payment - From an Investor's Prospective

In the development stage of launching a start up. I am initially outsourcing the development as I am not located in a place where there is an abundance of programmers. The dev timeline is 6 weeks. ...
3
votes
3answers
314 views

If I launch a new division within my employer's company, should it be treated as a separate startup?

I've been working for my current employer for the past several years as CTO. I recently pitched them on starting a separate division that is more entrepreneurial and experimental to spin out ...
11
votes
7answers
4k views

First employee at Y Combinator funded company

I may have the chance to be the first employee of a startup going to the YC summer 2011 program. The thing is I think they are planning to cover my expenses but not to actually pay me or offer any ...
3
votes
2answers
285 views

Equity for strategic hires?

We're a small (but growing) consulting firm with software to be developed as a side stream (yes, I know this is an original story :)). 3 partners, equal equity. We've worked with a few people in the ...
11
votes
6answers
1k views

How to reward early employees?

In many startups there are some #1 or #2 employees who helped the whole business all the way. I've got couple guys like that, I'd love to give them more than the salary (even though our salaries are ...
2
votes
5answers
1k views

How do you reward for innovation?

It seems to me that encouraging innovation is extremely important for startups, but how do you reward it? If one employee contributes 10 good ideas that never get across the line, and another ...