

Why Vest Founder Stock (by Scott Walker) - dennykmiu
http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2010/01/04/ask-the-attorney-founder-vesting/

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dennykmiu
My best advise from a friend who is a successful entrepreneur is that "legal
issues that are unimportant to you when you are successful are also
unimportant to you when you are unsuccessful." Interestingly, the opposite is
also true. For example, vesting of Founder stock is that one issue that is
important whether or not you are successful. Ownership needs to be earned and
there has to be a vesting schedule even for the Founders' stock. It matters a
great deal how you can discharge a partner if they don't perform. This is true
if the partnership is a success and interestingly even more true if the
partnership is a failure (since you would need to restart the company with
different partners). Over-protecting yourself is counter-productive but not
protecting yourself adequately is irresponsible ... true for sex, true for
startups.

