[sneak]

I forget where I read it (venture deals, perhaps?) but it has always stuck with me: founder stock should vest! Nobody should get any equity whatsoever until and unless they've been working full time on the project for a year or more, founders included!

That wouldn't have solved the problem here, however, where blowing up the whole company is the best outcome, as you don't want to be in business with greedy, dishonest people. Building inside of a crab bucket is a huge waste of time.

[lumost]

This is a pretty bad deal IMO. If I’m the technical cofounder the first months are basically me getting the (software) product to the point where it can be shown to customers. The next few months will see a sales founder get our first deal.

Once the product is ready to launch, A bad technically founder could find a cheaper CEO. Once the first deals are in a bad CEO could find a cheaper technical founder.

The vesting strategy encourages thinking about founders as employees that can be replaced rather than as partners.

[jdsully]

A startup is just so difficult that you really can't get away with stuff like that and survive.

It's very rare you can fire your dev team and get away with it, your product will not be good enough for years on end while you learn and grow. On the flip side customers will wonder why their point of contact is now gone if you fire the main contact they were dealing with. Plus how are you going to get more of these customers now?

[pedalpete]

Yes, but think about the other perspective. The CEO decides to leave after 2 months, and they hang on to 50%?

The vesting keeps everyone honest and in for the long-haul.

[rkk3]

Or in Facebook's case, no vesting agreement for co-founder with 20% of the company that didn't work out after a few months.

[rkk3]

There should be some sort of vesting schedule. If you really don't think a standard one is fair, It doesn't have to be over 4 years. It is also normal to have events that accelerate vesting (like an Acquisition) which in yours case could be the delivery of an MVP.

Also if your co-founder thats doing sales can't close without a product, you should get someone who can that is a very bad sign.

[cweill]

What about when some founders put in capital, say one founder puts in $100k? Do they still need to vest?

[sneak]

Personally, I'd say yes. Maybe a shorter overall vesting schedule, but at least a one year cliff.