[aimazon]

> Lawyers I talked to told me different things, one that worked a lot with startups told me that it's a good deal, another one specialised in shareholder litigation told me I could squeeze the company dry.

They're not contradictory. The deal you've been offered is good and fair. However, you could take an adversarial position and squeeze your co-founder for a lot more if you're willing to sacrifice the company's wellbeing for your exit, e.g: you brought on the team and manage them, you could leverage that influence to poison them against your co-founder, the threat of you doing that would likely push up the buyout offer.

Take the 60k, push up the 1% to 5% (as that isn't going to adversely impact the company) and move on.

[master_crab]

Take the 60k, push up the 1% to 5% (as that isn't going to adversely impact the company) and move on.

Agree. But don’t push up the percentage too much. Deadweight equity is toxic for a startup that has to rely on that for future funding.

[biphasic]

I'm trying to push up the stock, but my co-founder is a tough negotiator and adamant

[aimazon]

You’re in a much stronger position than you may feel that you’re in. Sure, your cofounder can dilute you but doing so is bad vibes that will harm team morale (because the team will know that he will screw them when their time comes).

The key to negotiation is being able to walk away. Start signalling that you’re willing to leave the company while holding on to the 49% and voting shares. That’s bad for him.

You could stand firm on 5% + 60k by telling him that’s your final offer, or you could present an alternative, e.g: you want your 30k cash back and you want equity, start at 10% equity but you’ll “give up” each 1% for 15k. If he wants you to walk away with 1% equity then he pays you 15k * 9 for the other 9%. If he’s already expecting to give you 60k, he’ll probably work out 30k + 2% = 60k and start thinking my maybe it’s a good deal, then he can negotiate himself down to whatever percentage he wants you to have. Change 15k with whatever number works for you.

That said, if walking away with the 60k is crucial and he’s a good negotiator then you probably can’t “win” and should just take the 60k + 1%.

[kijin]

Then push up the valuation. Find out how many euros your co-founder is willing to part with (or even borrow!) in order to get that 99% ownership that they want so badly.