Equity is the value of an ownership interest in a business.
3
votes
4answers
507 views
Startup organization before incorporation
I'm beginning a startup at my school. Right now its just me doing all the work, but i am gathering a team that will ideally be my co-founders. I wont be incorporating any time soon, but i will be ...
3
votes
2answers
159 views
What to offer sales biz dev first hire / partner for product that has early sales traction?
Background:
I am a developer with a SaaS product that is bringing in revenue, but not enough to pay a sales person's salary (yet). The company shouldn't need outside funding. The product is ...
3
votes
1answer
115 views
Equity equation as 3rd member of a startup
I was working for a startup as a remote contractor for couple of months.
The founders of the startups are non technical and I am the only one technical person into the team.
After working with the ...
3
votes
2answers
371 views
What if the startup I work for gets bought out?
I am the technical founder of the startup that I work for. My software, that I architected, runs on a device that has won a Gold award even before the trade association's show.
The startup is ...
3
votes
4answers
674 views
Equity for a part-time founder?
I'm a co-founder of a new startup with two other partners. I'm a designer and they are a developer and biz dev guy respectively. We are in the initial prototyping phase for the project and will be ...
3
votes
1answer
225 views
How much equity to offer for part-time help?
I worked on a web site idea for the last 1 1/2 years, created the prototype, have spent money incorporating and other legal stuff, etc., etc. Now, to launch I need help, thus started talking with ...
3
votes
3answers
555 views
Need advice on Startup Equity Distribution for a Social Network Website
I an a technical guy, plans to goes full time for a startup to build a social network site, with a friend who is a business guy. Initially, he will work for part-time until our startup is enough to ...
3
votes
2answers
407 views
Gross profit royalties vs non-voting equity
I began work with a small startup last year, working as a consultant. Consulting didn't last long because I saw great potential in the company and made it clear I wanted to be a part of it.
I ended ...
3
votes
4answers
504 views
Revenue sharing in Software Product Collaboration
My friend and I are planning to collaborate in developing a mobile application. We are on to the discussions on the revenue sharing. Following are details to be considered.
My friend is the owner ...
3
votes
2answers
817 views
Examples of reasonable equity split for sales mgr
I co-founded a BtoB technology startup about 2 years ago with one partner. In the first 1.5 years we
Quit our corporate jobs and worked (mostly) full time
Completed the majority of technical ...
3
votes
0answers
116 views
Equity for First paid Tech-employee in a not-profitable financed Startup
I'm trying to be as specific as possible here:
We are a Startup 5 months on the go with three co-founders. Since none of us can truly code we need to employ our first Web-developer and we have found ...
3
votes
2answers
200 views
Does this equity buyback structure seem odd to you?
My firm is offering me 5% of the company. The structure they laid out for buyback of this equity seems odd to me. What are your thoughts?
"The purchase price of equity shall be equal to 5X net ...
3
votes
2answers
409 views
Assigning ownership percentages
I am forming a partnership with several individuals. Right now we don't want to form a corporation because of the additional costs that would entail. I believe there is a website or a tool that lets ...
2
votes
5answers
340 views
Is it common for people to work for free in exchange for equity in a startup?
My business partner and I have an idea that requires some web development to be done to get to the first stage of proving that the concept works. We do not want to pay to do this, but rather have ...
2
votes
3answers
500 views
How to fire a co-founder that owns 30% of shares?
Co-founder performance in the startup has dropped. He clearly has other priorities in his professional life, like other startups, and he doesn't want to give up his 30% shares.
The only written ...
2
votes
4answers
267 views
Sweat Equity problem
I am soon to launch an interesting network. I have completed product development and currently testing the product. In the course of working on the project, I met an experienced man who loved the ...
2
votes
4answers
126 views
Escalating Ownership in Product Development Firm
A friend of mine has asked me to come on board with him, full time, as a business development consultant. Specifically, he needs me to produce market assessments for his portfolio of product ideas (9 ...
2
votes
7answers
809 views
Advice on startup offer, am I reading this right?
I recently met with a local start-up and was presented an offer. I spent the last few days reading on this board looking for insight into the start-up financing world. The start-up is technology based ...
2
votes
2answers
231 views
Can the total number of stocks in a company change?
I was discussing doing some work for shares in a startup when the owner mentioned something interesting.
Basically I would be given X shares for my work and with the current number of stock that came ...
2
votes
2answers
744 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 ...
2
votes
3answers
963 views
How to split money, first startup/business I've done
I'm a software developer, and I am starting a SaaS company. Even though the project is not too complicated I do need the help of a fellow programmer that is more experience in the web programming (I'm ...
2
votes
4answers
380 views
startup CTO salary and equity
I am CTO of a startup with an annual salary of 155.5K which just turned profitable and have been doing fairly nice and is backed by investors. I don't have any equity with this company yet.
Two of my ...
2
votes
4answers
231 views
I am the only paid developer in a startup, am I getting enough equity?
I am currently apart of a very small startup. I love the idea and believe that it could be very big one day. I was hired by a guy with the idea, but the idea was still very basic, and 1 dimensional. ...
2
votes
2answers
214 views
Investor want high stake and I need money
I love startups but have no prior startup experience. Till now I have only built stuff like mobile apps (as part time gigs) and worked as a consultant for many large enterprises. I have this new idea ...
2
votes
5answers
316 views
How to negotiate with a sales guy
I started developing a product in 2001. It was a one off web site for a particular client in which I retained all rights / ownership of the software. By early 2009, the code base had been extended ...
2
votes
2answers
371 views
How to (not) move ahead with my cofounder
I need some advice on how to handle the current situation with my co-founder. I am not happy working with him, we haven't signed any contracts or agreements, and he has put in a lot of hours over the ...
2
votes
2answers
390 views
What is a fair equity share for four months of part-time work as an iphone app developer at an early stage startup?
I am being offered a 0.6% share in an early stage startup for being the lead iOS developer(probably the only iOS developer).The concept is good and the team consists of some smart people too.My only ...
2
votes
6answers
914 views
How much equity am I worth?
I had a problem that required a database solution. I designed the concept of the database and over a 2 year period developed a crude system that worked.
In trying to find help with the programming ...
2
votes
3answers
816 views
Asking for equity for doing work
I've been contacted by a early start-up company (2 people) to do work in rails for a product that they could potentially market to dentists. The person who contacted me (one of the two owners) knows ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
146 views
Revoking a Partner's Equity
I am involved in a startup and one of our minority partners (owns 15%, vested 25% of that 15% with the rest over the next two years) is not meeting his side of the agreement.
I think we have the ...
2
votes
6answers
4k views
Can You Be A Partner Without Putting Up Money?
I'm running a LLC that is a spin off of another LLC. I was working for the original LLC for a year when the 2 partners decided to start the spin off LLC. I let the partners know I wanted to be ...
2
votes
3answers
210 views
Does equity equal liability?
I have been offered some equity in a startup and I was wondering if I own X% equity (I own X% of the company) does that mean I'm also X% liable should the company be sued? Do I own/am responsible for ...
2
votes
4answers
392 views
“Active chairman” and equity question to the experienced
My startup is in the application management and cloud computing segment, I have recently been approached by a very well known person in the industry (I know he is known, also know him from past lives ...
2
votes
3answers
135 views
How much equity should I give our first investor/legal advisor?
I'm currently starting up a mobile social networking application with zero funding. The app is currently in the mvp stage with a very thorough business plan, and my business partner and I are ...
2
votes
2answers
114 views
Profitable existing business with Single owner - offering me Partnership & Equity to help it grow - My negotiation should be?
The owner has an online business which brings in a high $xx,xxx in profits (nearing 6 figures) with minimal costs (hosting, etc). Owner is looking to start fresh with an LLC setup and a partnership ...
2
votes
3answers
111 views
Unorthodox Startup Formation
Two other founders and I are planning to start an S-class tech firm. All of us have a government background and are new to the process: one founder is the notional CFO and has thus far handled the ...
2
votes
1answer
155 views
How much equity does Extreme Startups usually request in exchange for participating in their program?
Do Extreme Startups publicize this information, or has anyone gone through their program and have a ballpark figure?
2
votes
8answers
1k views
20% equity and CTO. (Story and details). Is this fair?
This is a long exposition.
Please bear with me, I think that I need to provide as much specifics as possible, while keeping it as short as possible. Thanks for reading, any feedback is much ...
2
votes
2answers
281 views
Fair equity in this scenario?
I'm looking for opinions on what you would expect the equity distribution to be in this scenario:
Person #1: Came up with the idea, left his job 1 year ago & went unpaid for 6 months, filed ...
2
votes
5answers
596 views
How much equity should I ask for if I am a sole investor in a start-up?
I have been asked to be the sole investor in a friends start-up company. The initial investment is $25,000. In exchange, I would like significant equity in the company. How much equity would be ...
2
votes
3answers
299 views
Why split equity at the beginning?
One of my co-founders is suggesting that we split equity based upon the number of hours each person puts in until we obtain funding and begin drawing salaries.
In other words, each person would be ...
2
votes
1answer
254 views
Start-up team organization, shares and duties. Advice needed
We are a group of 5 people working on an idea for a start-up. The aim is to find an investor that would allow us to develop the project fully. Now we're just at the idea and presentation stage.
3 of ...
2
votes
3answers
642 views
Best book for learning corporate finance
There are a lot of books out there which hit on these concepts:
Discounted cash flow: NPV, IRR
Return on equity
WACC
CAPM
Capital structure: Debt vs. Equity
However, most of these books broach the ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
Biotech startup: How do I split up the roles/responsibilities of three founders?
I am creating a medical device startup and I have some issues determining how to split up the various roles and responsibilities of founders, among other problems. My brother, a friend/partner, and I ...
2
votes
1answer
282 views
Equity for Advisors
I've identified a veteran CTO of several successful web and tech companies who I'd like to be the first Advisor to my web-based startup. He could help me with operations, as well as business ...
2
votes
1answer
165 views
Technical Co-Founder Contract
There are a couple startups I'm thinking about joining. They are in very early stages (seed round or incubation). I am interested in the position of technical co-founder.
They've all asked that we ...
2
votes
3answers
962 views
Questions to ask CEO when interviewing at a startup
I've been through several rounds of technical (software developer) interviews at a start-up and have done pretty well. I've been invited back for the final round which will be with the CEO. I ...
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 ...
2
votes
2answers
193 views
Primary founder has conflict of interest but wants to retain equity position without quitting day job?
I am the primary founder of my start up. We have just received our first influx of capital. My current employer feels working on this would be a conflict. The start up has a management team in place ...
