<story><title>What Happens When a Founder Is Fully Vested?</title><url>https://avc.com/2018/11/what-happens-when-a-founder-is-fully-vested/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>beaner</author><text>Didn&amp;#x27;t even realize founder&amp;#x27;s equity vested. I thought since they created the company, they owned it since day 1.</text></item><item><author>Negitivefrags</author><text>What a strange perspective.&lt;p&gt;This piece seems to assume that founders of a company are just some kind of super-employee of the VC that are only going to be around so long as they are getting regular compensation.&lt;p&gt;That isn&amp;#x27;t how it&amp;#x27;s supposed to work. The founder has to believe they create the value. They don&amp;#x27;t work to get grants of stock, they work to increase the value of the stock. They created all the stock in the first place!&lt;p&gt;If they think that they could just hire someone else to do their job and everything would just turn out the same then what the hell did they even found the company for in the first place?&lt;p&gt;The way VC is set up in the valley has warped peoples understanding of what a business even is.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>markbnj</author><text>It doesn&amp;#x27;t really, unless the founder has signed a stockholder&amp;#x27;s agreement with other founders or investors specifying a vesting period. Under normal circumstances a founder or founders form a corp, put some cash&amp;#x2F;equity in, sign a stockholders agreement specifying who owns how much, and from that moment the equity is wholly owned by the signatories to that agreement. Other agreements may come into play as the company seeks additional investment, etc., but I can tell you that at least 20 years ago when I did a startup + angel round + series A + B nobody at any time suggested that the equity I&amp;#x27;d worked for the first four years should somehow be clawed back and then vested, and the conversation would not have gone well if they had.</text></comment>
<story><title>What Happens When a Founder Is Fully Vested?</title><url>https://avc.com/2018/11/what-happens-when-a-founder-is-fully-vested/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>beaner</author><text>Didn&amp;#x27;t even realize founder&amp;#x27;s equity vested. I thought since they created the company, they owned it since day 1.</text></item><item><author>Negitivefrags</author><text>What a strange perspective.&lt;p&gt;This piece seems to assume that founders of a company are just some kind of super-employee of the VC that are only going to be around so long as they are getting regular compensation.&lt;p&gt;That isn&amp;#x27;t how it&amp;#x27;s supposed to work. The founder has to believe they create the value. They don&amp;#x27;t work to get grants of stock, they work to increase the value of the stock. They created all the stock in the first place!&lt;p&gt;If they think that they could just hire someone else to do their job and everything would just turn out the same then what the hell did they even found the company for in the first place?&lt;p&gt;The way VC is set up in the valley has warped peoples understanding of what a business even is.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tptacek</author><text>No. All operator equity vests. Any potential partner who demands unvested equity is one you should avoid. Vesting protects cofounders as much as it protects money investors.</text></comment>