Being at the whim of another company potentially places you in a very compromising position. I wouldn't do it. It doesn't sound like there are any technologic

Being at the whim of another company potentially places you in a very compromising position. I wouldn't do it. It doesn't sound like there are any technological or product dev advantages to using their framework. Even if that's not what you meant to say, I suspect that it's true (unless they have build something as-yet-unheard-of in PHP, which seems unlikely). I would look for a polite way to decline the licensing deal. Tell him that you want to develop it in a different language. It shouldn't be hard defending the decision to move away from PHP. At the same time as you say that, I would extend some sort of other offer to your boss. If they are as important and influential as you believe, then it's worth having them on board. However, I would want their compensation based on their contributions, not something ancillary (like running the company that owns the underlying framework). Chances are that he just wants to be involved -- so offer him some compensation in exchange for networking on your behalf, or serving on the board. Again, if he's influential enough to warrant giving up 5% of the company, you should compensate him directly for that. Especially considering the alternative is super weird sounding -- licensing a proprietary framework (in PHP, no less) from a company just to not offend this man. That could put you under their thumb (even unintentionally -- what if they go out of business?) without offering any value in return.