This is a terrible deal! An idea is not worth 77%. Please please consider this. In the beginning you will be building the app and doing most of the work at least initially, while he will be basically just sitting there and telling you what to code. If this startup fails, he looses nothing, while you loose the time you wasted building it.

Do not take it. Technical cofounder are hard to find and are very very valuable. It should be at least 50%.

Hey it’s not going to be just a complete copy. It’s definitely going to be different. Like notion, clickup and coda, they are all similar in the same space but all different. Same with mine. It’s going to have its own design, own unique use cases according customer interviews and unique features specific to my country.

When i said competitor to airtable i didn’t really mean exact copy. And my motivation is because i am passionate about this space, my previous startup was an ERP system. So yeah, and who wouldn’t take a chance if given my opportunity? I would be a fool to say no. And yes i am going to figure out a lot of things on the way, like i always do.

Okay

To clarify i am just brainstorming here anonymously. There’s nothing wring with that. Yes i can go to advisors and ask them, and yes i already have customer interviews scheduled

Actually a lot of companies get founded without a clear idea. OpenAi was founded basically to stop ai from taking over the world. Even at SpaceX Elon didn’t intend to build his own engines, only after being humiliated by Russians he decided to do it. There’s countless and countless examples. But i get it, it’s hard to understand that it’s possible to get funded with just an idea. Only people at my level will be able to understand this.

Good point. And yes that’s what I will be aiming for. Because if we don’t hit that, i will have to raise even more funding.

There’s no airtable in my country, since they don’t even support my country’s language.

By sizeable amount I mean enough money to develop an MVP and enough for salaries for a team of 5 developers for around 18 months.

I am not sure yet. I already have some customer interviews set up with steakholders of those VC funded companies tomorrow. What I will be doing is just showing airtable itself and asking them if they would use a localized and easier to use version of this in their business. Just a note, there’s no airtable in my country, they don’t even support the language. And the reason I picked airtable competitor is because it already has a proven business model in the US. So I am really trying to minimize risks here

So, don’t take your VC as a golden ticket. You are your own golden ticket.

And yes I am definitely going to work my ass off to make this work. Will live in my office if I have to

I wouldn’t be so sure of that. My previous track record is part of the reason I am able to get blank check from VC. Ideas change all the time, pivots and iterations happen fast. At least until you find pmf. What doesn’t change is the founding team and their ability to deliver (fast) and their flexibility

Sorry folks I am not here to brag. Just trying to get ideas to best take advantage of a large b2b customer base. I am thinking airtable competitor since the product was already validated in the states. Unless there’s something bigger I can do.

Because advisory team look up to me, I helped hire them for VC. And reddit is anonymous.

This is not BS. I will put it this way. I can just walk into a VC and get funded with any idea, without any MVP or anything. The reason is the respect and connections I have in the country. I used to be a CTO of a large publicly funded company (top 5 in the country). I am like Sam Altman in my country. Like Sam Altman, I can just walk into any VC and get funded with just 1 sentence.

It’s like I have this huge unfair advantage.

Dm me I can provide proof, in case you still don’t believe me

Okay after reading all your comments, I am going to be brutally honest with you.

1. The company made 500k last year. Meaning you do have traction
2. You are a co-founder with 30% equity, not an employee with 5% sweat equity

Are the other co-founders also taking 250k cash salary as you claim you are owed?

I think you are just being inflexible and probably like an a***le. Startups are hard and unpredictable, yes they probably did plan to take a salary of 250k once they are profitable but it didn’t happen… YET. But I think it has the potential become profitable and has some traction since you said the company made 500k last year, which is actually a pretty good.

You need to start acting like a co-founder and help the company succeed. Now if you were offered 5% sweat equity and were promised a salary in cash, then it would be different, but I don’t think this is the case here.

Don’t do anything stupid and definitely don’t sue, otherwise words gets around and you will never be a technical co-founder ever again. Yes your cofounders maybe multi millionaires but you don’t have any claim on their personal assets.