Having a co-founder dilutes your equity and authority. When does adding a co-founder add more value than hiring an executive with similar skills? Understanding the unique role a co-founder plays can help you determine if and when you need one.
Founding Team
Founders provide the heart and soul of most startups but learning how to effectively lead and manage a growing team can be challenging. Learn strategies for adapting from inspirational leaders.
Going Solo: Founding a Startup without a Co-Founder
Anecdotal evidence suggests that being a solo founder carries more risk than co-founding a startup. Hind Hobeika discusses her reasons for not adding a co-founder and provides ways to rethink the critical decision of having a partner or going solo.
3 Topics to Discuss before Writing a Founders’ Agreement
You found a great co-founder. When should you formalize your relationship? You may be tempted to draft a founders’ agreement to demonstrate trust in the partnership, but before you make a legal commitment, make sure you’re aligned with your co-founder in 3 critical areas.
Reasons to Write a Formal Founders’ Agreement
Research shows that establishing a founders’ agreement prematurely often generates founder conflict—a leading cause of startup death. Can writing a founders' agreement help you mitigate future conflicts and save your business? Before you rush into an agreement, understand the underlying mechanics and learn how to customize them to strengthen your co-founder relationship.
Key Terms to Include in a Founders’ Agreement
A poorly-constructed agreement often leads to founder conflict which can kill your startups. We can’t promise that your founders’ agreement will prevent all founder conflict. But we can provide a framework that will help you avoid common mistakes and equip you to handle conflict.
Co-Founder Equity Splits—Ways to Approach Allocations
How you divide equity reflects your values, directly impacts your co-founder relationship, and influences how your team and investors perceive your startup. Read more to learn methods for dividing equity that align with your values and can minimize conflict between founders.
Structuring Equity Splits to Mitigate Co-Founder Conflict
Before you begin discussing how to divide equity, the smartest thing you can do is to build in mechanisms to make your agreement dynamic. Learn the benefits and drawbacks of common methods.
Layering Value—A Different Way of Dividing Founder Equity
Lara Hodgson, co-founder and CEO of NOW Corporation, shares how she and her partners assign value to founder contributions as they change over time and allocate founder equity iteratively.
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