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How would you suggest a partnership agreement could look like. At the moment I am a contractor, but they are in the process of offering me 2% of the company (st

How would you suggest a partnership agreement could look like. At the moment I am a contractor, but they are in the process of offering me 2% of the company (still not signed or anything). Your case is very interesing to me, what would you have done differently looking back?

ezekg 10y ago
It's your idea and they're offering you 2%? Or am I just misunderstanding? I got 40% of net profits over all time, as long as I was actively working on maintaining the software, in return for the ability to develop the app on company time over 6 mo + marketing efforts. What the agreement looks like is up to you; the contracts that were offered to me had ridiculous clauses that were heavily in their favor, mostly because they were 'stock' contracts which they (ellegedly) didn't even read for them themselves. (I know.) When I sold them the IP out of frustration, I had still not signed a contract that I was happy with. (One version of our founders agreement had me owing them $40,000 in initial contributions — if I were to sign that, I could have royally screwed my family.) All I'm saying is that a business partnership is more than just a few meetings and agreements. You need to agree with how they do business. If it doesn't align with what you want for your product, you may want to take a step back and evaluate whether it is a good decision to get into bed with them. Let me know if you have any additional questions! Edit: If I were to do it differently, I would have done everything by myself. It would have taken longer, yes, but I would still be working on a product of which I had a huge passion for. It sucks that it didn't work out how I thought it would.
- citruspi 10y ago
  I don't think he's told them about his ideas yet (otherwise there wouldn't be much of a point to this Ask HN). I think he's saying that his employer (the startup company) is in the process of offering him 2% of the startup company.

ezekg 10y ago

It's your idea and they're offering you 2%? Or am I just misunderstanding? I got 40% of net profits over all time, as long as I was actively working on maintaining the software, in return for the ability to develop the app on company time over 6 mo + marketing efforts. What the agreement looks like is up to you; the contracts that were offered to me had ridiculous clauses that were heavily in their favor, mostly because they were 'stock' contracts which they (ellegedly) didn't even read for them themselves. (I know.) When I sold them the IP out of frustration, I had still not signed a contract that I was happy with. (One version of our founders agreement had me owing them $40,000 in initial contributions — if I were to sign that, I could have royally screwed my family.) All I'm saying is that a business partnership is more than just a few meetings and agreements. You need to agree with how they do business. If it doesn't align with what you want for your product, you may want to take a step back and evaluate whether it is a good decision to get into bed with them. Let me know if you have any additional questions! Edit: If I were to do it differently, I would have done everything by myself. It would have taken longer, yes, but I would still be working on a product of which I had a huge passion for. It sucks that it didn't work out how I thought it would.

citruspi 10y ago
I don't think he's told them about his ideas yet (otherwise there wouldn't be much of a point to this Ask HN). I think he's saying that his employer (the startup company) is in the process of offering him 2% of the startup company.