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Without knowing any of the specifics--how long you've been in business, how much you've raised so far, the number of employees, the market opportunity, competitive landscape, runway, how much experience you and your other founder had, how much experience the CTO had, etc, etc, etc--I can't imagine trying to give you any advice other than to... 1) Ask yourself these questions: * Did I get into this for a quick payday or to build a business? * How could I best contribute to the business if I stayed? Is that something I want to do? * Are these people I'd want to stay and work with indefinitely? * If I had to walk away today and give up all my stock, what dollar value would I put on my contributions (both assets and effort) to date? * If I had to walk away today, how much cash would I need to comfortably cover the downtime until I find what's next? 2) Talk to a personal attorney who has some experience working with start-ups, fundraising, etc. Someone who's negotiated founder contracts and separation agreements. 3) If you know them well enough, talk to the board, advisors, and/or investors who participated in your last round and ask their advice. If they want you to leave after the next round, then that probably needs to be part of the conversations with potential investors. If you're a founder and have a large chunk of stock, it's not unlikely that they'd want to buy most or all of it back from you with proceeds from the next round. |