The co-founder conversations you need to have before you incorporate
Equity, vesting, roles, money and the exit nobody wants to picture: the five talks that decide whether a founding team survives its first real disagreement.
Equity
Founder and employee equity: vesting, option pools, dilution and grants.
Rich on paper, short on cash: the founder liquidity problem nobody plans for
A large equity stake in a private company can coexist with a thin bank balance. Here is why that gap exists and the realistic ways founders close it.
Founder vesting and the 83(b) election: the 30-day deadline explained
Why founders put vesting on their own shares, what the 83(b) election changes about the tax bill, and the filing window that cannot be fixed once it closes.
How QSBS works: the Section 1202 rules founders ask about too late
The qualified small business stock exclusion can remove federal tax on a large gain, but only if conditions set years before the sale were met.
Accelerator, incubator, studio or corporate program: who wants what
Early-stage programs look alike from the outside but want very different things from founders. How each model makes money and the terms that reveal it.
Acqui-hire or acquisition: who actually gets paid when you sell
How deal structure, the preference stack and retention packages decide where sale proceeds go, and why an acqui-hire can leave common holders with little.
How founder secondary sales work, and why the company gets a say
Selling some of your shares before an exit is possible, but transfer restrictions, approval rights, valuation knock-on effects and tax rules shape every deal.
Family business succession starts a decade before the handover
Ownership, leadership and family harmony are three separate problems. The families that hand over well plan each one deliberately and early.
Your company is already your biggest bet. Invest the rest differently
Founders carry one huge, illiquid, correlated position. Here is how that should change the way you think about every dollar you invest outside it.
What to check before you leave a big company for a startup
A due-diligence checklist for experienced operators weighing a startup offer, covering runway, founders, role scope and the questions that reveal what the pitch leaves out.
How to negotiate a startup offer when equity is half the package
The terms that decide what startup equity is really worth to you, from exercise windows to acceleration, and the levers worth pushing on beyond the number of shares.