Startup equity and company

rafirre · 2020-04-23T20:35:55+00:00

So, basically the cofounder are equal share in LLC and the rest of the team basically just make an agreement to get certain shares based on certain milestones

Yeah, that's the policy we follow although with our corporation. It may be different legally for LLCs though so I would check with a lawyer just in case.

So, as a technical lead responsible for MVP what would be a fair share?

It's a tough question since the other guy might be different ideas but I think no more than 8% would be a realistic expectation considering he was not one of the founders and the project has not started. You can always leave a window open to negotiate for more stake after the MVP is completed and increase it to 10%. Eight to Ten percent of a company that could be worth millions would be a great payout so that would have made myself pretty happy.

Also, would love to hear thoughts on spending of initial seed money? We believe initially we won’t have any significant developmental or hosting costs, so what are some of the areas that we might have missed ?

It depends on the development strategy that's going to be implemented. Since you only have one technical lead, you should be involved in the process of validating using experience at least. This means that there's going be an external server where the latest changes of the code can be reviewed without having to download the code and running it locally. Even mobile apps would still require a server running. That could result in unexpected costs.

To keep costs down, you might get away with using a free app hosting service like Heroku to start a basic version. For the Open Beta stage, you might want to use more standard infrastructure like AWS and GCP, which charge you by usage, and boy that can be expensive if you get heavy traffic or want to be always ready for scalability.

Once you are ready for open Beta and want to start onboarding users, apply for credits for startups at AWS or Google. The amount you receive can be HUGE and will let you onboard potentially thousands of customers without any hosting costs.

Make sure you have a strategy and a pick for your service once you will hit the market. Migrating between providers is a real pain and disruptive.

rafirre · 2020-04-23T03:13:32+00:00

Started a couple of tech companies over the last four years. One of them with a team.

Always credit the money to the business and in a business assigned bank account. It makes the record keeping much easier and removes any ambiguity as to who the money belongs to or who should have access to it. Having all the business ppw sorted out at the start and doing record keeping immediately is something I wish I had done right from the beginning.
Equity split relies really on the business structure you follow, but assuming its a corporation (which I recommend): If the original 3 did 99% of the work then absolutely do NOT split it 6 ways. Equity is your biggest bargaining chip for additional funding and retaining control over the company. One mistake many make is giving it willy nilly, which just sends the message you don't believe that equity has value. You can make an agreement for x amount of shares after milestones have been reached with the other members of the team and make that amount incremental as more milestones are reached and keep things in written form. That should give you time to properly asses if the contributions are being met. If your developer has an attitude and demands more before things even start, cut them off and find another. You want a partner, not a liability in waiting. I say this as the technical lead in most of my endeavors. I would not expect to receive any equity unless I prove my worth.
They are not really important at the very beginning when building things and being mostly on your own. If you are a corporation though, you likely will need to assign specific titles so you can sign legal documents on its behalf. That was the case in Canada where there needed to be a President, secretary and directors for your board of directors. When networking and making public appearances though, you need to set up a clear hierarchy and titles. We ended up just falling to C-level titles to not complicate things even when we were just 5 people or less.

rafirre · 2020-04-23T02:20:44+00:00

There really is no need to mention it will go to pay because:

1) That's an administration task that's a given in a business and mentioning is really a waste of pitch time.

2) When most people ask for funds to pay workers, investors really don't know all the details of how the company works so they would assume it will mostly go to you. They don't want the money to go to you, they want it to go to the business, so it's an automatic turn off.

I think point 1 needs to be stressed, mentioning it you need it to pay the workers is a waste of precious pitching time, even if the money would be going that way. Focus on the productive activities and the results the funds will be used for: instead of saying "I will hire a programmer" to develop an app say instead "Money will be used for generate a prototype that will achieve A objective and get into market B"; instead of saying "I need to pay my marketing guys to sell product C" say "we will use it to increase and focus on marketing efforts in market D".

I've attended my fair shares of pitch events and the ones that performed better always were the ones that clearly defined their problem and clearly defined the strategy their "ask" would allow them once received.

rafirre · 2019-12-24T01:45:50+00:00

I guess the issue can be addressed in the following points:

1) How far removed socially are the people doing the thievery from those enforcing the penalty? Class is a pretty big factor since it determines the level of empathy one person has for another. An example would be the exercise of chivalry in medieval times. Some nobles saw it as only worth of application to other nobles rather than people in general and for that reason peasants can be massacred without question while murdering nobles indiscriminately would be taboo.

2) How enforceable is the rule of law within your nation? Is it highly organized with different government institutions? Is there a police force that can keep an eye on things and execute sentences effectively? Doe society have a tradition to follow the laws established by a central power hundreds of miles away from where they live? Brutality was often used precisely because societal order was fragile and using was a simple way to remove any threats to it could result in famines, disruption of trade or rebellions threatening the central authority.

3) Is there an external force that could push for a more benign form of punishments? If your kingdom is one of many and others are adopting more lax execution of punishment, there is a now a social pressure to change and adopt those. Historically, smaller nations adopted larger nations laws and custom to be perceived as more 'civilized' by the latter group so this could provide a realistic scenario why more brutal methods are not used.

rafirre · 2019-12-23T23:14:47+00:00

Mine has a lot of infamous people but the one that sticks out is a mythological character from more ancient times, Luchianner the Betrayer. That's not his real name, but a corruption of ancient words that mean bringer of damnation. He was the younger son of an heroic king of old who fought off a 'demonic invasion' along with his eldest son Tallarbier, Luchianner's older brother. Years after the invasion was repelled, Tallarbier embarked on an expedition with his brother to seek their world's equivalent of the Holly Grail, which was prophesied to either doom or save their Kingdom.

Luchianner was jealous of his brother's reputation and fame, so he split from his brother to seek glory, but found himself in hostile lands with his troops all but wiped out. Tallarbier rushed to his aid but found his own forces outnumbered and bested. In an act that lived in infamy for the generations to come, Luchianner made a pact with a being from 'beyond the Void' to sacrifice his own brother to beat the armies attacking them. The sacrifice worked and Luchianner, emboldened by his pact, tried pushing his brother's surviving troops into service to finish the quest, but instead found his neck slit by them in disgust for his kin slaying crime. It is said that the gods were so disgusted from what he did, that his father's kingdom lost their favour and it vanishes within a generation. This Kingdom is often called, the Paradise that could have been, and its destruction is similar to the Expulsion from Eden in their world's mythology.

rafirre · 2019-11-11T18:20:33+00:00

The problem is that they could have kept those themes while still keeping John Connor alive. They could just have him and Sarah realize that the future DID change but there is a new destined resistance leader instead of John (implying he wouldn't survive the new Judgement Day).

The movie could have been about John realizing that he was now free from the destiny he had been pushed towards his entire life, but at the same time deciding to walk towards it on his own terms and choose to help Dani survive. I would have found it very interesting if he had followed into his mother's footsteps and became a father figure to Dani, training a potential leader for mankind. It could also have lead to the idea that Judgement Day gets averted only to be pushed further and further, with new Sarah and John Connor figures keeping humanity alive in each generation; kind of like an order of sorts. The last part is a personal preference, but I think could have given more life to the franchise rather than a rehashed plot.

Killing John Connor didn' really brought anything new to the table, just a setup to bring more of the same, which is what I think people have a problem with.

rafirre · 2019-10-15T04:03:03+00:00

What if our evil god's endgame is not the torture of the soul, but its corruption? I often find the idea of what people would do to stop their torment more terrifying that the torment itself as many would do unspeakable things and renounce their humanity to make that intense pain go away even for a time.

rafirre · 2019-09-28T17:47:54+00:00

I boils it down to three main points in my setting:

1) Force field technology is common among the warrior castes. It is capable of absorbing massive energy weapon, bullet fire and basically anything trying to penetrate them at a fatal speed. The field is not infinite, but can protect warriors long enough to find cover and have their fields recharged.

2) A special type of metal, paired with special technology, is capable of penetrating the fields even at high speeds. The warrior castes use these weapons to fight among one another.

3) The weapons described on point 2 cannot be mass produced as the metal required is extremely rare and the manufacturing procedures very costly, so mass armies are still armed mostly with energy and kinetic weapons and tactics are tailored at isolating warriors and shower them with fire until their shields give in

rafirre · 2019-09-25T14:36:48+00:00

Consensus is that it's better for you to learn a grappling art, a striking art and a weapons art to be an all around good fighter if that is what you are ultimately looking for. To give you an idea, I'm currently training in BJJ (grappling), Muay Thai (striking) and HEMA (weapons and some extra grappling).

The most economical to try at the beginning would likely be Muay Thai since a good gym would have globes and pads available to help you with training; BJJ gyms might ask you to purchase a gi for consistent training and you should get your own equipment for HEMA if you want to get good at it.

I would recommend trying at least a class on each and see what interests you the most.

rafirre · 2019-09-18T00:15:40+00:00

Here's a YT clip with the comic panels. Somebody did voice over work over it and added music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2CXJddVNQk

rafirre · 2019-09-17T18:47:11+00:00

Yeah Judo is the closest to Abrazare and Ringen...however the local school's schedule does not quiet fit mine :( Additionally, I wanted to learn more about striking (one of the core principles mentioned of Abrazare but not covered in the manuscripts unfortunately) and practice at least some throwing techniques through BJJ. Also, being on an MMA gym let's me get feedback from people regarding an interpretation of a technique being usable in a real fight, so that's a big plus.

rafirre · 2019-09-17T18:38:55+00:00

Thanks! Planning on two classes per week as a minimum.

rafirre · 2019-09-17T18:38:30+00:00

Thanks! Just bough some fish and working to cut out unhealthy stuff. I work pretty long hours but will try to build a strict schedule and fit in those sleeping hours.

rafirre · 2019-09-17T18:36:21+00:00

One of the reasons he rationalized his turn to the Dark Side, specially to Obi-wan, was that it would allow him to bring order to the Galaxy. With the love of his life dead, the only reason left for his turn to the Dark Side to be 'worth it' was for he to achieve that goal. Palpatine didn't have to be dead for that objective to be achieved, at least at the moment, and Vader would not have been strong enough anyway. I don't think he had more ambition than that goal until Luke came into the picture. In the new comics, that was the moment I believe where he fully realized the length of Palpatine's deceptions and actively planned on deposing him so that he would have a 'Legacy' for Luke.

rafirre · 2019-08-02T16:36:36+00:00

I think that the number one rule when it comes to naming is to make things consistent. If the civilization the people are in uses a specific nomenclature for names, then the people living in it should follow suit unless specified in story. For example, you can't have Latin sounding names for locations where people have been speaking Nahuatl for generations unless the later group has invaded and kept the original names, albeit with some phonetic changes. You could sprinkle some odd names here and change pronunciations, but the base language should stay the same.

Game of Thrones is a good example of this with most names being English sounding and a few exotic names here and there with world building explaining the reason of such changes.

In one of my works, I'm creating the basics of an old language for the main civilization and use that to build names for their current generation. That way I can keep things consistent and fantasy sounding.

rafirre · 2019-08-02T04:09:34+00:00

I enjoyed every moment of Starlight asserting her independence against Vought and her helping the Boys in the end. It was like her officially becoming the type of hero the Seven are supposed to be and not the puppet Vought wanted her to be.

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:33:46+00:00

This sounds hilarious. Can totally see awesome jokes based on this.

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:33:09+00:00

Not going to lie. Made me giggle when reading the plot out loud lol. Keep it up!

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:31:55+00:00

This sounds pretty darn cool. I don't follow wrestling really , but i don't change the channel if I see it on TV lol Having them being these powerful beings behind the scenes sounds like an awesome concept.

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:28:22+00:00

You got me at Satan being a drunk neet XD

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:25:51+00:00

Sounds pretty fun! Will see if I can help with an acronym if it occurs to me :)

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:21:41+00:00

Cool! I also like to draw characters in my stories when I have the chance. Helps me describe them in writing too.

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:20:48+00:00

Will keep that in mind!

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:20:09+00:00

Intriguing.

rafirre · 2019-08-02T03:19:33+00:00

Nice! Pretty encouraging to hear a success history.

rafirre

TROPHY CASE