Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
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Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#2Alt account. This happened to a few companies in our batch too. It seems normal that 5-10% of companies game the character test. 100% of these companies basically end up with solo dictator CEO/founder and underperform. 100% of big companies from our batch had difficult founder heart to hearts on level ground, equal equity, and are still together.
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#3Alt account. This happened to a few companies in our batch too. It seems normal that 5-10% of companies game the character test. 100% of these companies basically end up with solo dictator CEO/founder and underperform. 100% of big companies from our batch had difficult founder heart to hearts on level ground, equal equity, and are still together.
Landing an opportunity or a windfall sometimes wakes up new extreme character traits that previously were either dormant or perceived as minor "idiosyncratic inconveniences". I've seen it happen before as well.
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#4YC gives you a very modest amount of cash, thanks to the risks involved. It’s not really anything that should go to your head - if it does, that’s a red flag and something to be actively addressed because you’ll be dealing with larger amounts later on (if you’re lucky). This founder is from a LCOL country so the equation may be a bit different.
Furthermore, even if YC valuation were sky high (which it isn’t), it’s not synonymous with success in any way - it’s not even an indicator. You know what is an indicator, though? How well the cofounders get along.
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#5What I’ll share (not a YCer): I’ve “lost” out twice in power deals at companies, and even if everyone supports you and says you’re in the right, it can be disconcerting when the staff simply align themselves with whoever won. If you’re in this position, you have my sympathies.
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#6The startup is effectively doomed at this point. It's almost impossible to recover from
> We get accepted and he calls me on to a meeting with the other founder just 2 days ago and essentially tells me that in order for him to quit google and be fully committed to our company he thought he deserved more equity so that he could feel like he’s valued here. CEO and COO proceeded to tell me that at that point i was less valuable than them and how my skills and expertise where subpar to theirs so I didn’t deserve the equity I had.
Basically, my advice is to register trademarks, domain names and incorporate the company with the same name, and try to get everyone who is on your side to quit.
It's not sabotage, at this point it's certain the startup will fail. You are just making a failed company fail in a week instead of maybe 6 months.
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#7The startup is effectively doomed at this point. It's almost impossible to recover from > We get accepted and he calls me on to a meeting with the other founder just 2 days ago and essentially tells me that in order for him to quit google and be fully committed to our company he thought he deserved more equity so that he could feel like he’s valued here. CEO and COO proceeded to tell me that at that point i was less…
this is some fun shit, would watch a tv show like that lmao
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#8Alt account. This happened to a few companies in our batch too. It seems normal that 5-10% of companies game the character test. 100% of these companies basically end up with solo dictator CEO/founder and underperform. 100% of big companies from our batch had difficult founder heart to hearts on level ground, equal equity, and are still together.
Landing an opportunity or a windfall sometimes wakes up new extreme character traits that previously were either dormant or perceived as minor "idiosyncratic inconveniences". I've seen it happen before as well.
Ah, a classic: Mo' money, mo' problems.
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#9Sounds a lot like the "CEO" is a just sales rep for your company who did a great sales pitch to get you into YC, but who didn't even commit enough to the company to want to do it fulltime unless the person could get majority ownership.
As others have mentioned, you might want to try to pull the business out of the company and get a better sales rep, with a more appropriate single digit or less equity.
This kind of ego trip happens all the time in companies, when a sales rep closes a deal for X$ and they believe they just made the company X$ profit, fully ignoring not just all costs, but also every single contribution from everyone else at the company that put them in a position to even try to sell whatever was pitched, and everything that will be needed to deliver it.
That's perfectly fine mentality for a sales rep, but no for a CEO. Which seems obvious.
Re: Co-founders tried to reduce my equity after company was accepted into YC
#10I forget where I read it (venture deals, perhaps?) but it has always stuck with me: founder stock should vest! Nobody should get any equity whatsoever until and unless they've been working full time on the project for a year or more, founders included!
That wouldn't have solved the problem here, however, where blowing up the whole company is the best outcome, as you don't want to be in business with greedy, dishonest people. Building inside of a crab bucket is a huge waste of time.