
Ask HN: Advice on a Hard Decision as First Time Co-Founder - throwaway_probs
Hello everyone, first time co-founder here. I&#x27;m at a point where I have to make a hard decision in my startup. I&#x27;ve been in a position where I felt like I kept giving and giving (to be fair, a lot of us felt that) but now comes a decision to give up something again, but which the result may have bigger repercussions in the future that are unclear to me.<p>Note, this post was cut short due to 2000 char limit, my full &quot;write-up&quot; here: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pastebin.com&#x2F;fjQfiqp8<p>Background:
In my startup of 5-6, we have a founder (CEO) and I&#x27;m the co-founder (CTO). So far, I&#x27;ve worked on this project for about 9 months and I do everything technical (server setup, back-end [our core technology], front-end web design).<p>Problem:
We need to make payroll two more times before we can close a large seed round which will put to rest money problems for a long duration, but the problem here is getting these last two equity-for-cash lots before we get the big relief.<p>Now with options running out, one particular solution came up. Two contributors to our startup offered to put up the next lot, but in exchange they want &quot;co-founder&quot; status on top of the equity.
What I want to avoid is to have our say and leverage in the company not be proportionate to effort level put in when these two new &quot;co-founders&quot; are put into play.
Now the founder is okay with this because in the end, he still has the final say on everything (and it&#x27;s his wife), but as an &quot;outside player&quot; I have to go to bat for myself and make sure I don&#x27;t get screwed by letting these decisions go too easily.<p>TL;DR
As core co-founders, will giving up additional &quot;co-founder&quot; titles have potentially nasty consequences in the future (when everybody has their own opinions)?<p>If there&#x27;s anything else I can clear up, please let me know. Thank you for any advice or input!
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rajacombinator
A "cofounder" title is totally meaningless unless it comes with proportional
equity and voting rights. You should give them out like candy if it will
benefit you.

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sharemywin
how much equity is about to be given up? will original co-founder and wife get
over 51% equity? do you have the option to forgo some pay to maintain your
equity position in the company?

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throwaway_probs
Only 1% is going to be given up, the founder does not have over 50% but has
over 33%. I have less than 5% but right now the equity distribution is not my
primary concern. I'm mainly concerned about the direction the startup is
heading when we start giving up titles such as "co-founder" that may be
influential later, with the direct reason being just because we are currently
strapped for cash. Do you have any experience or insight on how to handle this
(avoid being stripped of power/influence in the future while others
undeservedly gain power/influence)? Thank you for your response.

