Is being offered 23% of a company an insult as a partner in a start up? I am responsible for building and designing the entire web app, coding the Frontend, backend, and digitizing all requirements for our proof of concept. My partner found me on LinkedIn. Its his idea, he will be running business functions, marketing, client onboarding, and he has a few real clients to do a trial run with. We’ve been working together for two months in a trial period and now we want to write up contract. How do I value myself?! ……This is my first start up !
What does the cap table look like? I understand you’re the only two employees, but does your cofounder own the other 77%?
FYI you have a little bit of leverage if you haven’t assigned your IP to the company. That usually goes hand in hand with equity grants and if you’re just getting to your contact now, it sounds like you might still own your inventions.
Source: venture attorney
This is why you hang out in venture capitalist hangouts. So you can get brown bag stories from venture capital attorneys, who you pay for a personal consult asap on any contract you are planning to sign and rely on to protect your interest in the sweat equity you are about to commit to.