Guide 04

Before agreeing founder equity

Mapped

The situation

You are about to agree who owns the company: a percentage in a conversation, a slide, or a shareholders’ document. Someone wants it settled quickly so the “real work” can start.

The decision at stake

Whether this split, vesting, and leaver treatment match the contribution you expect, and whether a spoken promise has been turned into a documented grant.

This guide is mapped. You can answer the questions and keep a note. The full essay, contrasting examples, and the longer branch for founders who have already acted are not written yet. Output to aim for: Equity promise and grant note.

Questions to start the note

This guide is mapped, not finished. The situation, the decision, and the questions are here so you can start a record. The full evidence, the contrasting examples, and the longer “already acted” branch are not written yet. Hellmann and Wasserman’s working paper is linked on the method of this note as research about process, not as a rule that equal splits fail.

1.Your name
2.Company
3.Who else is in the split?
4.What percentage is a promise in a message or a meeting, and what is already a documented grant?
5.When does vesting start, is there a cliff, and over how long?
6.What counts as a contribution: cash, time, intellectual property, customers, a name?
7.What happens if someone leaves on good terms or bad terms, and who defines those words?
8.Is there acceleration on a sale, and is it a single trigger or a double trigger?
9.Who can issue more shares, and from which pool?
10.Does this split reflect the work ahead, or only who was in the room on the day?
11.Have you already promised equity in writing?
YesNot yetNoUnsure

Saved on this device.

Open your record