How do I get out of a startup co-founder?

If your co-founder is not a member of your startup’s board of directors, you can fire them at any time. However, if your co-founder is a board member, then terminating them is much more complicated. First, your board will need to vote on your co-founder’s termination.

How to determine equity split between founders?

Equal ownership equity splits are determined by dividing 100\% of the equity shares by the number of co-founders involved in the start-up. If there are five co-founders, each co-founder receives 20\% equity in the company.

What happens if your co-founder leaves Your Startup?

It’s also a good idea to create a founder IP agreement that includes terms that clearly define what happens if your co-founder leaves your startup. This is mainly to prevent a situation in which your co-founder leaves and is in possession of your company’s creations, opening the door to potential competition.

How to deal with a co-founder who wants to exit?

There are certain measures you can take early on to help make a co-founder exit situation easier to deal with. Creating a Founder Accord that details founders’ roles and responsibilities is a good way to help prevent future disagreement. You should also make sure to have a shareholder agreement that includes vesting provisions for founder shares.

Can we predict co-founders’ relationship failures?

When psychologist John Gottman (author of the Four Horseman concept) identifies those behaviors in marital relationships, he’s able to predict relationship failure with uncanny accuracy. The same thing holds true for co-founders.

What are the most common problems with co-founders?

Every co-founder situation is different, but one common problem that keeps popping up revolves around how the founders engage in conflict: either not enough, or far too much. Founder drama happens even in situations where you wouldn’t expect it to crop up. Success will cover up many sins.