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1. Forget the friendship: Are you an owner of shares or just an employee? 2. If you're an owner you have some responsibility, but if you're an employee then it

1. Forget the friendship: Are you an owner of shares or just an employee? 2. If you're an owner you have some responsibility, but if you're an employee then it's really your call. If they're your real friends they'll understand. 3. If you want to compromise take on the some short term freelance work to dig yourself out of a hole. This allows you to dig yourself out of a hole while they try and rescue the company. You may even want to condition returning based upon payment of previous work, even if it's just a payment plan.

try-catch 13y ago
I negotiated for vesting common stock, rather than options, but it's within range of a large option grant. I have always been referred to as an employee, not a co-founder, even though I have been advising the CEO for about a year before I was hired. I even introduced the two co-founders. I am very emotionally invested, and have a large, but not substantial equity position. Effectively I am 10-15k in debt on this venture and I could double that debt very easily in the next few months depending on how long it takes to find a desirable new role/ contract. To sum it up, you think they will be understanding. My biggest fear is that the CEO is way more leveraged than even I. I feel like focusing on other things openly, even open to the team, could mess-up the funding, even if he would really be able to close it.
- michaelpinto 13y ago
  If they're really your friends they'll be understanding — the key word is "if". 1. Are they aware if your personal financial situation? They need to understand if you crash and burn that won't help anybody. 2. What is their situation? Are they in the same boat? If they are there needs to be a bigger conversation. If they aren't they need to be willing to pay you or lend to you or something. 3. Do they have a plan to crash land the plane? When my company imploded in 2002 the best thing i had going for me was a COO who had a crash landing plan: We put a metric on money that needed to come in, set a deadline (so important), and then had a plan to crash. But it sounds like there is a lack of communication, and sometimes things can actually be worse between friends because they don't want to hurt each others feelings or fear damaging moral. Side note: The best thing that happened when my company imploded in 2002? I was able to keep the friendship of my co-founder who I knew since high school. And it took me a few years after the failure for me to dig out of that hole.
- TheCoelacanth 13y ago
  It sounds like you are heavily invested in this company and are taking risks on the same level that a co-founder would. If they can't pay you consistently, you should be getting the equity and title of a co-founder.
  - try-catch 13y ago
    what is fair expectation?
    - TheCoelacanth 13y ago
      Since you are taking close to the same risks as the founders, you should be getting close to what they get.

try-catch 13y ago

I negotiated for vesting common stock, rather than options, but it's within range of a large option grant. I have always been referred to as an employee, not a co-founder, even though I have been advising the CEO for about a year before I was hired. I even introduced the two co-founders. I am very emotionally invested, and have a large, but not substantial equity position. Effectively I am 10-15k in debt on this venture and I could double that debt very easily in the next few months depending on how long it takes to find a desirable new role/ contract. To sum it up, you think they will be understanding. My biggest fear is that the CEO is way more leveraged than even I. I feel like focusing on other things openly, even open to the team, could mess-up the funding, even if he would really be able to close it.

michaelpinto 13y ago
If they're really your friends they'll be understanding — the key word is "if". 1. Are they aware if your personal financial situation? They need to understand if you crash and burn that won't help anybody. 2. What is their situation? Are they in the same boat? If they are there needs to be a bigger conversation. If they aren't they need to be willing to pay you or lend to you or something. 3. Do they have a plan to crash land the plane? When my company imploded in 2002 the best thing i had going for me was a COO who had a crash landing plan: We put a metric on money that needed to come in, set a deadline (so important), and then had a plan to crash. But it sounds like there is a lack of communication, and sometimes things can actually be worse between friends because they don't want to hurt each others feelings or fear damaging moral. Side note: The best thing that happened when my company imploded in 2002? I was able to keep the friendship of my co-founder who I knew since high school. And it took me a few years after the failure for me to dig out of that hole.
TheCoelacanth 13y ago
It sounds like you are heavily invested in this company and are taking risks on the same level that a co-founder would. If they can't pay you consistently, you should be getting the equity and title of a co-founder.
- try-catch 13y ago
  what is fair expectation?
  - TheCoelacanth 13y ago
    Since you are taking close to the same risks as the founders, you should be getting close to what they get.