
Ask HN: Promised percentage of company, never received in writing - founderequity
Throwaway for obvious reasons.  I am a technical co-founder of a startup for which I was assigned a significant percentage of the company via verbal agreement.  The owner of the company has assured me repeatedly, &quot;Don&#x27;t worry, you <i>will</i> get your percentage.&quot;  This has been going on for two years now.  I tried to explain why this is not an acceptable way of doing business, but his response is to question our bond of trust.  He has always been trustworthy but I feel strongly that something like this should be in writing, with official shares perhaps, or something formal that I could, for instance, include in my estate.<p>While clearly I have good reason to be concerned, what should I do?  I&#x27;ve already built the start-up and the executive team is involved in a long term sales process which could lead to significant valuation shortly.  At that point I&#x27;d be putting blind faith in the owner to finally give me my percentage officially.  However, in the meantime, it&#x27;s just pins and needles.<p>Comments or suggestions?
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grizzles
When he says "You __will __get your percentage " you should say: "I know, I'm
going to get it right now" and frog march him down to your lawyers office. And
if he doesn't give it or fires you, then good, you knew you were going to get
fucked earlier than you did. Only a conman would fire someone for asking to
get what they agreed to give them. Also if you find out now you will have
ample time to throw a money wrench into the deal if you get fucked. In other
words, get a backbone.

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smt88
Get the promise in writing via email, chat, or text message. You can be
casual/nonchalant about it. He doesn't need to know why you're bringing it up.

Next, give him a better reason to get it in writing than, "You might screw
me." Tell him that you do trust him, but your lawyer friend says that there
are lots of specific details that aren't in your verbal contract (this is
true!)

Talk to other executives about this, too. Tell them honestly that you aren't
clear on the details of your contract.

If they all refuse to give you a written contract, it's a safe bet (in my
experience) that they plan to screw you.

Talk to a lawyer either way.

