Questions

I founded a company but have brought on an industrial designer and engineer on board as co-founders. They both bring unique skill sets and will put in the sweat equity, I am the CEO and will work in more the business intelligence side of things alongside PM duties. I have some hesitation giving them a large amount of ownership, as that would dilute my own. They deserve credit for their contribution, but to have my own shares dwindle into the 30-40's percentage of ownership gives me concern. Looking to vest month to month over a period of 2 or 3 years. Thoughts are welcome..

I agree with Jordan. I think the perspective that you are taking on this issue is not the best.

I do a lot of work with startups and i have run across the attitude many times where the founder is willing to dilute his or her ownership.

I guess the simplest analogy is this: is it better to have a small piece of something large, or 100% of nothing?

If the people that you have are integral to the success of the business and they are the "right" people for the job, give them a generous portion of the ownership, otherwise they will not be motivated to make the business successful.

This is one of those areas where you need to be very careful, because if they feel shortchanged you have given away ownership and not received equal value in exchange, this is a bad situation.


Answered 10 years ago

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