

Sales commissions in start-up - pan69

Hi,<p>My start-up has three founders. Two founders are full time while the third founder is still in his day job. The two full time founders are the builders while the founder with the day job is the new business person. The third founder spends an average of 6 hours per week on the business while the other two basically 24/7. We, the other founders, are on salaries but we only can be paid if there is money that month.<p>The third founder is suggesting that he wants a commission for the new business he brings in. We, the other two founders, want him to be rewarded for his efforts, of course. But while he's still in a day job and financially secure it doesn't make sense to us that he should be paid. For the two years I was still in my day job and working on the start-up, I didn't get paid, nor did I expect too. I was investing in building a business. Any money the third founder makes through commission is basically extra or bonus money for him while any money we make (if any) is money for food and rent.<p>Even if the third founder would come on board full time, we'd still have an issue with the concept of commission. E.g. I don't get commission for writing code. Why should he get commission for what is his job? His argument would be, "But you can bring in work as well" to which my argument would be, "You can also write code". The three founders have all three different skill sets, design, development and business. Which makes it a great combo.<p>It's a bit of a messy situation and we've given him three options to choose from:<p>1) While you're still have a third party income, we expect you to invest your time and skills in building this business without expecting any payment.<p>2) Quit your job tomorrow and come on board full time.<p>3) Leave the company as parter and we'd more than happy to pay you a commission for work you bring in.<p>He hasn't come back to us yet but I was wondering if there is a compromise that we've over looked.<p>Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
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gexla
I think one thing you missed is that when he gets paid (he makes a sale) then
everyone gets paid. I don't think it's wrong to expect to get paid from your
business. If you can't pay yourself from your business, then what's the point
of putting your time into it? Maybe that's just a difference in perspective
between the coders and the business guy? ;)

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pan69
Thanks for that. I forgot to mention that the other founders are on salaries
but we can only be paid if there is money. I've updated the original post to
reflect this.

