Hot answers tagged founders-agreement
10
Your partner in coding would have joint copyright of the code. This does not mean he is directly entitled to a company that you start, but it does mean that he has a claim to the intellectual property you are trying to assign to the company. Therefore, he probably won't allow use of the code unless he gets some form of compensation, and equity is one them.
6
Entitled to equity in the company? No.
But, depending on the details of what happened, he may be considered a joint author of the software you hacked together or possibly even a full owner of part of it. Either one of those things could really impact your company's ability to succeed, so it may make sense to give him some equity in the company in return ...
5
Go see a good lawyer.
There is nobody here who can answer your question. It all depends on the exact wording of that "collaborator's agreement" you mention, and relevant legal precedence in your jurisdiction.
In general it's extremely unusual to retroactively attempt to take back ownership. Think about what that could do to your reputation, and think about ...
4
There's a special green-card category for investors, that might fit for your co-founder. Check the EB-5 visa. You should discuss this with an immigration lawyer, of course.
Obviously claiming that your position is open to US citizens when it is not is a fraud and may backfire in a DOL audit or even after the GC has been granted. Lying in immigration ...
3
Important: This not legal advice . . . Get a Lawyer to help you - this a very common issue. Things to note: 1) The fact that you have not signed a legal agreement or expressly discussed on how to share control/etc is not really all that helpful for your cause. A "partnership" can be created by mere actions alone (which seems to be the case here), 2) while ...
3
Looking at the information you have laid out, even 20 people answering here won't help you. It is already getting convoluted, especially since people expect equity for having an idea, which is wroth zero without execution. There are 7 billion people in the world and I guarantee you about a thousand have the same idea right now. Only those who execute on ...
2
Here is now I view your options;
Go adhead being a director of the new company despite it being in breach of your contract Your employer will probably never know. Just make sure you don't draw attention to it and you should be fine. This is the course of action I would take but I don't really want to recommend it to anyone else as you put yourself at a ...
2
Looking at your question, it doesn't seem to meet the "fairness, or perception of fairness" point that Joel Spolsky made when answering a similar how do I divide equity amongst partners question.
Not everyone has to agree with his view, but its a worth a look.
I also agree with Apollo about the value of ideas without execution (I've made other posts along ...
2
So if the developers don't have shares, why would they take less than market salary?
Furthermore, when the going gets tough, these salaried developers will clock out at the end of the day. If you want them to have above average loyalty and interest in keeping the product running (crunch time at the end of the week, waking up at 3am to fix something, etc.) ...
2
It sounds like you should take the offer to leave. If I were in your shoes I would work out an arrangement that allows a buyout over time if he's not willing to pay your cash expenses back.
For example - you get paid off the top from revenue until some threshold, then the shares are all his.
The imbalance of cash invested seems unfair and I have trouble ...
2
Start-up shares are by definition not liquid. Would you buy start-up shares in a company that has "not gotten the traction it wanted with consumers" to become a partner with someone you'd "just wouldn't get along with". You'd have to disclose that to any prospective buyer as part of your motivation to sell. Besides, anyone with any experience would know that ...
1
The general advice I can give is - Trust No One
How many times has the time-old tale of "I should of known..." been told? If there is any doubt, then have a lawyer review it to ensure you don't (accidentally or otherwise) get screwed. You are signing some very serious, legally binding contracts that can do some powerful things (even oust you of all ...
1
Joel Spolsky goes through a plan along these lines in great detail here:
Forming a new software startup, how do I allocate ownership fairly?
As long as it doesn't cause resentment, 50/50 could work with some points you need to remember:
Even starting at 50/50 doesn't mean it will stay that way for long. For example, the accelerator will take a 4-10% cut.
...
1
TimJ's answer is the closest to what I think.
In 2 words: move on.
Going/staying: Your initial agreement seems to have been biased, and you were not the right team. The company is not really valuable right now, and it will obviously not be the case in the future is cofounders disagree strategically. You lost enough time now, so keep your feet on the ground ...
1
Tom, outlines the options pretty well. One point to consider is whether you can still comply with your company's COI policy.
To do that your startup must not (1) compete with, (2) do business with, or (3) act as a vendor of your current employer. You state that your startup will be a vendor to companies in your employer's space, but this is not ...
1
We agree with Henry above that your coding friend owns intellectual property rights to the code he produced jointly with you. While his contribution to the code does not automatically give him equity in your company, you may wish to compensate him with a one-time payment for his code and connect that with a transfer IP rights to contributing code. Getting ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
