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Ask HN: How to split with non-tech co-founder?
What is the usual agreement between tech and non-tech founders, given:
- There is no external funding, both of them wants to do bootstrapping.
- The tech founder would probably spend 3-6 months to develop the MVP.
- The non-tech founder will do the specialized sales and marketing (niche market with only a few people deciding on using A or B product), share its domain knowledge, but won't do development.
The risk and initial involvement they take is quite different, but due to the niche market, and the tech domain knowledge required, they won't make it happen without each other.
I was thinking that they can found a company in 50-50%, but the product is not under the company's ownership at first. The tech founder will put a price tag on its time ($X), and from the first $X revenue the tech founder will get paid to transfer the right to the company.
Would you have better suggestions?
- sharemywin 11y ago4 Years Vesting 1 Yr Cliff: The four years is the time period in which your stock completely vests. The one year cliff is the what you have to reach in order for the first piece of stock to vest. Therefore, if you leave the company within one year you leave with no stock because you didn't reach the 1 year cliff. After the one year cliff, you're stock can vest monthly, every three months or six months. It really depends on your company.
- isoos 11y agoI can see that it works for employees, but how does this apply for the founders with very asymmetric initial investment?
- dudul 11y agoWhy do you think it's asymmetric? According to you, they can't make it without each other. Why is 50/50 such a problem?
- isoos 11y agoAssume 5 months pass, the developer works on the product, while the other guy does only light marketing and sales (10% part time, as there is not much to go for). For unexpected reasons, the non-tech guy moves to a different country, and there is no hope that the product will get sold. As there is no upfront funding, the developer's time (investment) is not compensated at all.
- dudul 11y agoIf the expectation is that the non-tech guy is gonna do so little work there is something wrong. There is a lot to do in a healthy venture for the non-tech founder.