[brk]

I could be wrong, but I doubt he has any desire to invest in your business (and if he doesn't meet accredited investor requirements, you might not be able to legally pull it together anyway).

More likely, he does not want to deal with backfilling your positions and training a new person.

The probability is that he is being selfish, not helpful to you. I would look for some sort of work-from-home or part-time arrangement. Let them "fund" your startup by allowing you to keep a portion of your paycheck, not by actual investing.

Don't count on option 2, either. I've seen many cases where a "super critical" employee leaves with much concern, and 3 months later it's like they never even worked there.

I don't mean to sound negative, just realistic...

[ceoinvest]

The work from home or part-time arrangement sounds OK. He has already hinted at that. As someone else has said, I worry a bit about IP in that case (although I never signed any agreement with my employer).

[graywh]

IANAL, but I don't know that you have to sign any kind of agreement other than you cashing your paychecks and them having a written policy stashed away somewhere.

[ceoinvest]

Note to self: determine if they have any IP policy stashed away somewhere.

The startup existed as its own corporation before they hired me; in fact, they hired me because they liked the startup.