The founders tag has no wiki summary.
12
votes
8answers
2k views
Should we award equity based on specific performance metrics?
My team and I are nearing the launch of our initial product this August. We are wanting to develop a metrics-based system that will be implemented upon product launch that will determine founder's ...
11
votes
15answers
2k views
Do single-founder companies ever get funded?
Most companies I see funded usually have two or more founders. Do investors, angels or VCs, look down on one-man-companies? Are there many that get funded?
Or is it just that it's rare to have one ...
9
votes
11answers
3k views
What's a reasonable amount of equity to retain when you're the key founder?
I'm working with two other partners to get a SaaS startup off the ground. I worked on this thing slowly, mostly on my own, for about two years before approaching my partners. As a background, I knew ...
9
votes
3answers
330 views
Can I divorce a co-founder
There are currently 3 cofounders and 1 of them is an engineer other 2 are sales representatives. Many of the times technical cofounder doesn't agree with our views and is backed by his team containing ...
9
votes
4answers
5k views
Founders Agreement
Can anyone recommend a place where I can download standard founders-agreement for a tech-startup? Preferably, it should include something about founders vesting (e.g. founders will become diluted if ...
9
votes
1answer
447 views
Prenuptial separation agreement for cofounders
My apologies if this question has been asked before. I tried to find the answer reviewing other questions and still don't have the answer so here is the question(s):
We are now setting up the ...
8
votes
1answer
2k views
How to Divide Up Your Company's Equity
We get a lot of questions about dividing equity and for good reason. Dividing up your startup's equity creates a lot of heart burn for all of us. It's a tremendously stressful affair if you have never ...
7
votes
8answers
2k views
Investor wants 51% shares of our company
We are five engineering students, going to start up a company.
As there are many competitor companies in the market, we were looking for an investor to start very big.
Fortunately, we found an ...
7
votes
4answers
838 views
How should founders treat their paid-in cash in a self-funded startup?
In a founder-funded company, how should the founders treat the cash that they contribute to the company? Should it be convertible debt? Equity (but the founders already have all the equity initially)? ...
6
votes
4answers
275 views
If I write code with someone just together, are they entitled to equity in my startup?
If a friend casually wanted to hack with me and we wrote something that took off, are they entitled to equity in my company?
6
votes
5answers
651 views
Should I drop my co-founder?
So I started building this company back in January, completely on my own. I knew there would be a lot of work to be done, so just recently I told a PHP buddy about the site. He got really excited ...
6
votes
2answers
309 views
How do you start your own company while running someone else's company?
I've been running an in-office and online educational business for 3 years. The original partners are offering me a small equity share, but there is no contract yet (nor has there ever been one). I ...
5
votes
5answers
555 views
Why 3 or fewer founders?
Most Internet startups have 3 or fewer founders. Why? What are the main drawbacks of having more founders?
5
votes
7answers
944 views
How late in a startup's life can you bring in other co-founders?
Is there a time in the life of a startup after which you can't bring someone on board with the "cofounder" designation? I've observed additional cofounders coming onboard past the founding event, so ...
5
votes
4answers
161 views
Talking about fundraising with employees
I'm in the middle of raising money for my startup. We have had some initial success (and lots of failed attempts!), and are getting close to finalizing our round. We are a very small company right ...
5
votes
2answers
812 views
Stock Splits for founders
I know this has been addressed. However, each set-up is different and I want to proved the particulars on this one to get some thoughts.
I need some help establishing an equitable Cap. Table. My ...
5
votes
3answers
194 views
Are there Internet startups that became successful without enormous time commitment from employees?
The software and Internet startup companies I've worked for required 60, 80, or more hours a week of their employees (not just founders), for extended periods of time, up to a year. Are there examples ...
5
votes
4answers
349 views
How to build a founding team
I am working on a startup idea, and currently I am taking it solo. I would very much like to have 1-2 other people to work on it with me. I am a programmer, and I would like a 2nd programmer, and ...
4
votes
7answers
339 views
How can non/coders contribute to a startup?
The subject is the question. How can someone who does not know how to code contribute to a startup? Do you recommend that that member attempt to learn some basic coding so as to contribute to the ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
How is ownership of equity re-distributed at each stage of growth?
I've been researching for over a year now as an aspiring entrepreneur, but I am still fuzzy on how equity gets distributed at every stage of company growth.
Is a set amount of "shares" created upon ...
4
votes
2answers
241 views
Is this a fair CEO offer for an experienced CFO/COO
My question/story is this: two years ago I broke ground on a startup. We planned and planned, raised some funds and broke ground writing code. Two years later we put $250k into the business, have ...
4
votes
2answers
203 views
Left my startup pre-launch. What percent equity is fair?
6 months ago I quit my job to start a startup with two other people. I'm the business guy. I worked full-time on the project from day No. 1, and made substantial contributions to branding, customer ...
4
votes
3answers
257 views
Would You use fairsoftware.com to find contributers?
Would you consider using Fairsoft's share vesting system in an early start-up to increase the amount of resources (skilled people) you have access too?
You would be using vested equity (though ...
4
votes
1answer
691 views
The compensation equation - what's a good mix?
Here is the compensation equation, as I see it:
Equity - how much ownership one has, and when (roughly) it will be worth something
Wage - how much salary one recieves
Career - how the position ...
4
votes
3answers
497 views
Are co-founders employees? Do they need to be paid minimum wage?
If there is a co-founder with 20% equity in the company but no salary, what is his status in the company? Should he be considered an employee? What is the difference between a cofounder and an ...
4
votes
4answers
607 views
Can startup funding cover founder's personal expenses?
I and a friend of mine are working on our own web startup. Right now we are coding the whole thing and would be looking for investors 3-4 months down the line. My question is, can we include our own ...
3
votes
9answers
4k views
Qualities/skills of a CEO
i have the idea for this events based website but how do i know if i need to hire a CEO or if i can be one.
1: i am not that social but i can communicate clearly on the topics of my interests/ideas.
...
3
votes
3answers
821 views
Founder's Stock - Class F Common
I've first heard of this special class of stock through The Founder Institute. It's basically a way for founders to protect from dilution by authorizing both Common stock and a special Class F (for ...
3
votes
3answers
313 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
132 views
How to estimate value of non monetary and non working hours contributions?
Suppose a startup has 5 founders with the next contributions...
1: X hours of work in the startup.
2: A patent (the design of a product never produced).
3: $50K of funding.
4: Marketing skills.
5: ...
3
votes
1answer
931 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 ...
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
408 views
Is there a tax liability for reverse vesting founder stock/units?
A friend and I formed an Oregon LLC in 2008 for an online business. Now we're up and running and both working on it full-time. Now we've both moved to Texas and want to re-form as a Texas company ...
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 ...
2
votes
13answers
772 views
The Single Most Important Trait of a Founder
So I've been thinking a lot about important traits of startup founders. I keep coming back to the notion that the single, most indispensable trait of a startup founder is the ability to pick up the ...
2
votes
4answers
105 views
How investors decide, jockey or horse?
For your experience do investors bet on the jockey (founder-s) more than on the horse (idea), when it comes to startups?
Also what is general considered attractive investment opportunity when it ...
2
votes
5answers
1k views
Should my startup pay me?
I'm getting ready to launch a startup (currently have a C corp set up that I am running under). It has a platform under development, but I'm planning on having some ancilliary services to provide in ...
2
votes
6answers
1k views
Reasonable budget to prepare a shareholder agreement
What's a reasonable budget for forming a proper shareholder agreement in a new start up, formed as a corporation to be owned between 4 founder/shareholders? I understnad there's some variation ...
2
votes
3answers
427 views
I might be leaving a startup I co-founded. What are my options?
I co-founded a startup and have been with them for almost a year now. I own around 40 percent of the company, which is to be vested over 3 years. So far, about 1/3 of it has been vested. On top of ...
2
votes
2answers
96 views
Who owns this product?
What steps should I take to protect myself (and the company) as the sole developer of the product?
My business partner will be handling the business side of things.
It was his idea, originally, we ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
Protections for minority shareholder in SHA (shareholders agreement)
We are in early startup phase. One founder has a big majority stake and we are co-founders with small 5 minority stake. We have good relations and we are happy with the stakes, but we would like to ...
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
1answer
253 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
223 views
Beginners guide to term sheets and types of stock, etc
I'm looking for some simple laymen's information about what I need to know regarding Term Sheets, types of shares (preferred vs. common) and distribution to partners and investors. A book, article, ...
2
votes
2answers
101 views
What if I'm a networking guy?
What do you feel about the structure of my startup, where my co-founder is good in both product development and marketing; whereas I more of a face-to-face networking biz dev guy?
Do you think we ...
2
votes
3answers
162 views
If there was going to be a Founders at Work Volume 2 - what companies should be included?
Founders at Work proved to be a seminal piece of work for startup founders - a lot of things have happened since it's publication such as the "supposed" demise of Web 2.0, the rise of Twitter and the ...
2
votes
1answer
237 views
Why do the most popular and successful startups generally have founders from the top 10 universities?
Pretty much, you see ["Harvard", "Stanford", "MIT", "Yale", "Princeton",...] ubiquitously in the bios of startup founders. Sure, in some cases they may have dropped out, but none the less they got ...
2
votes
3answers
152 views
What to do with equity if co-founder / early employee quits?
I founded a company on my own a couple of years back. Got a couple of small clients on board and started making money (not a lot!).
Worked for 1 year on it alone and decided to get an excellent ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
Moral Question regarding Co-Founders
When I joined a friend at our start-up I said I'd do two years then leave (I want to do other things), so we raised seed and my two years were up a few months ago. Now we're trying to raised a series ...
2
votes
3answers
298 views
Where to corporate if founders are temporarily in two different states?
Currently one founder is in Michigan and one is in Texas.
Neither of us plan to live in these states for much longer.
We both will more than likely end up in NYC.
In the meantime, should we hold ...
