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If you have to give one co-founder living expenses, give the other co-founders IOUs for the same money when you get funded or start taking in revenue. Would yo
by cperciva 11y ago
If you have to give one co-founder living expenses, give the other co-founders IOUs for the same money when you get funded or start taking in revenue.
Would you allow co-founders to invest in their own company on the same terms as angel investors? If no, why not? If yes, how is this not equivalent to giving the salary-taking co-founder less equity?
- tptacek 11y agoSo I'm writing a lot here because I'm procrastinating finishing a fake Phrack article I'm publishing later today to announce the Starfighter CTF, and we should get opinions from other people besides me. But having said that: it's probably situational. If all the cofounders have roughly equivalent finances, maybe that's OK. But if some of them have, for instance, just sold a company, and the others are doing their first no-salary startup, it doesn't seem fair to allow the better-off ones to buy additional influence. I'm using "fair" here as a shorthand for "things that will damage the incredibly valuable cofounder relationship more than it's worth".
- cperciva 11y agoit doesn't seem fair to allow the better-off ones to buy additional influence This sounds like an argument for multiple share classes. Founders not taking a salary get extra shares, but they're non-voting shares, perhaps?