Wow. I can understand how galling it will be to let this person have what he's demanding. Plus, vesting agreements exist for a reason, and if it gets around t

Wow. I can understand how galling it will be to let this person have what he's demanding. Plus, vesting agreements exist for a reason, and if it gets around that an ousted founder can just demand to be fully vested and it happens, that endangers the whole startup ecosystem. Nonetheless. I'm not a lawyer, or an expert in negotiations, but my take too is that you should settle. It's a rare and special thing to have built a profitable business from scratch. A certain amount of luck is involved. Walk away from this, and you don't know how long it will take you to do it again. So as much as it hurts, I think you should chalk it up to experience and move on. Again, IANAL, but I wonder if there might be some way to concede the issue now while reserving the right to countersue in the future, when you have more resources, to try to get the stock back.