Business side is solid but we have no dev, need a technical co-founder

bro 50% equity is a huge burden. i've seen 3 devs in this situation two left in 3 months and due to money stress. can you change the offer to this: 35% equity + 4k salary for 2 months + 0 salary for 6 months + i'll give startup gear? the dev can cover food costs and still profit from equity

A fair structure in a technical partnership model: whatever amount of money/effort the founders put in (vertical), the technical co-founder should get a similar counterpart (equity+salary mix). If the founders have a salary fund give the tech co-founder a partial salary too. If not, let payment be delayed but keep it in writing.

Finding a guy who does both frontend and backend is hard usually one side of their full-stack skill set is stronger. After finding that person, set a 2-week trial period. To see if they can do the job, if they're a fit. Then close the contract. Having the equity grant in writing is very important.

I'm curious you're currently working 20-25 hours without software. What are you doing during those hours? Design? Sales? When the developer joins, what are those 20-25 hours? If you explain it'll be easier for the developer to understand.

6 months of work no salary, 50% equity... This is too heavy for a developer. Either pay a salary for the first 3 months, or make vesting 4 years, or pay me when we hit the target customer count. You need to specify when I'm authorized.

This thread is archived... Hasty decisions become decisions you have to fix six months later.

I have a question. People defend habits, not processes. Resistance comes from there.

The only thing separating friendship from partnership is a written contract.

Do you think this works at any scale? Are you looking for a partner or a co-founder? They are two different things.

If you have questions, write them; I'll answer as best I can.

This thread is archived. Everyone rushing into looking for technical co-founder gets stuck at the same point.

If I were you, I'd go this route.

I'll try it.

The answer above hits the nail on the head. If you get three different answers on a topic the question was asked wrong.

If I were you Id go this route.

I felt relieved reading this answer, so it's not just me. Processes without records never improve, because you don't know what to fix.

If IP assignment to the company isn't written from the start, it can't be collected later.

there is something to watch out for and if decision-making authority isn't defined it causes daily issues not just during exits.

solutions that work at a small scale collapse when you grow; I learned this late and btw if you post the result here it will help others too.

You're right, I've been down that road too. Partnership isn't a decision to make without working together first.

This is my opinion, I'm not claiming it's absolute truth.

It's rare to find an explanation this clear. The only thing separating friendship from partnership is a written contract.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

Absolutely. If I were to add anything: If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.

Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth. Of course, it varies if your situation is different.

Let me speak from the other side; I'm on the supplier side. Most time waste accumulates in tasks waiting for approval.

If you have questions, write them; I'll answer as best I can.

I went through the same thing.