[jhancock]

1 - talk to a lawyer. 2 - talk to a lawyer. 3 - talk to a lawyer.

My non-legal opinion is that if you were promised shares and you have any form of documentation the conversation took place, you should leverage your position before the VC round closes and don't sign anything prior to getting what you feel is fair. Even if you do not stay with the company, you may get a nice payoff or some severance shares to walk and let the VC deal go through. Most first round investors will walk if the founders have liabilities like the one you are describing.

oh yeah, and stop working for assholes ;) There are lots of decent company founders out there. I think you will find that turning your back on the bad ones will somehow eventually make the world just slightly a better place.

[alecco]

They all look decent when you start. In fact, if they look very decent and there's no clear paperwork from scratch watch out. Scammers are charming.

[jhancock]

I see many well intentioned founders that do not have well defined stock ownership plans in place in the first 6 months. In order to tell the difference between a scammer and a well intentioned person that is simply shy of defining the options you have to judge the person's character and past history.

The way I've dealt with this problem is simple. ShellShadow is not my first start-up (both as founder and as one receiving equity from founders). I have solid equity contract in place from day one. I know the value of a good key employee and can quantify that value in the equity contract from day one. Additionally, my contracts are short and easy to understand with no legal double talk.

This approach works for me and I would like to see others that supposedly have "done it all before" to follow this approach. If your a leader, act like it!!!