Co-founders, team & legal

Find a co-founder, split equity, hire your first people, and set up cleanly.

What founders use for co-founders, team & legal, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. This is the guide for the check-in itself: what to actually say when you sit down. Perel names the three things co-founder... First Round Review Article · 20 min read How to Fix the Co-Founder Fights You're Sick of Having: Lessons from Couples Therapist Esther Perel Esther Perel (via First Round Review)
  2. A YC-caliber founder (later YC's own CEO) tells the specific story of watching his co-founder relationship at Posterous rot... Initialized Capital / Medium Essay · 10 min read Co-founder Conflict: Lessons learned the hard way, and how to avoid them Garry Tan
  3. The Tuft and Needle founders ran a distributed founding team on purpose (Palo Alto and Tempe) and wrote down exactly how they... Entrepreneur Article · 9 min read The Survival Guide to Co-Founders Living Far Apart JT Marino and Daehee Park
  4. A first-person account of a founding team split across Hong Kong and Estonia (7,852 km apart) who made distance work because... Kipwise Blog Article · 7 min read How We Started Kipwise as Remote Co-Founders Kipwise founding team
  5. A tight, practical checklist for the still-employed co-founder before they write a line of code for you: read the employment... Startup Grind Article · 8 min read Moonlighting a Side Project While Employed Full-Time: Here Are the Dos and Don'ts Startup Grind
  6. This is the single clearest articulation of the exact call you are making: equity is a counterbalance to risk, and someone... Hustle Fund Article · 12 min read Equity for Early Employees (with Elizabeth Yin) Elizabeth Yin
  7. This is the durable reference for the structural line between a co-founder and a hire: co-founders own the company outright on... Index Ventures Article · 20 min read Rewarding Talent: Founders, Investors and Employees Index Ventures
  8. This is the actual Companies Act 2013 mechanics for the thing you want to do: put your co-founder's 5 lakh cheque in as a... Lawyered.in Article · 8 min read Can Startups and Pvt Ltd Companies Accept Loans From Directors or Relatives? Lawyered Legal Team
  9. Most equity-split writing is American and ignores that India has no 83(b) election and its own sweat-equity rules. This chapter... Swimming With Sharks (Indian founder funding guide) Book · 30 min read Co-Founder Equity Splits and Vesting (The Founder's Guide to Startup Funding: Protecting Your Interests in the Indian Ecosystem) Swimming With Sharks
  10. This is the cleanest statement of your core thesis: money in and sweat in are different instruments. Slicing Pie prices cash at... Slicing Pie Article · 7 min read The Magic of Multipliers Mike Moyer
  11. This is the India-specific playbook for exactly your situation: it names full-time versus part-time commitment as a reason to... EquityList Article · 15 min read Co-Founder Equity Split in India: How to Decide, Document, and Protect It EquityList
  12. This is the empirical spine for the employee half of your answer, built on Carta data from 50,000 real cap tables, not opinion.... SaaStr Article · 8 min read How Much Equity to Give Your First Employees: The Real Data from 50,000 Startups Jason Lemkin
  13. This is the cleanest answer to why a co-founder should hold shares, not ESOPs, in an Indian Pvt Ltd. It spells out Rule 13 of... Startup Movers Article · 10 min read Can ESOPs Be Issued to Promoters & Founders? Legal Guide Startup Movers
  14. This is the exact CA-firm explainer for the trap in the answer: it walks the two-stage tax on sweat equity, first as a... Treelife Article · 15 min read Sweat Equity in India: Eligibility, Restrictions, Tax Treatment Priya Kapasi Shah
  15. The plain-language, India-specific answer to when you actually owe. It nails the two triggers with worked examples: no tax if... ClearTax Article · 12 min read Getting ESOP as Salary Package? Know about ESOP Taxation ClearTax Team
  16. This is the explainer written for exactly your situation: two founders, 50/50, no tiebreaker. It lays out the full menu you can... SPZ Legal Article · 12 min read How to Resolve Deadlock in 50/50 Co-Founder Situations SPZ Legal
  17. This is the worked mechanics of the buy-sell clause in Indian shareholders-agreement language, not a generic Western template.... Mondaq India Article · 10 min read Deadlock Resolution Mechanism in Joint Venture Agreements Mondaq (Indian corporate counsel)
  18. The cleanest case for the answer's core move: appoint a chairman who holds a casting vote so an even split can still produce a... South Bank Legal Article · 9 min read 50/50 Shareholder Deadlock: Avoiding and Resolving Disputes South Bank Legal
  19. This walks the exact mechanics of moving equity from a 40% founder to a 60% one, and it splits the guidance into two scenarios:... SPZ Legal Article · 12 min read Founder Equity Split: Rebalancing Cap Tables SPZ Legal
  20. This is the exact mechanism that stops a co-founder selling to a stranger, explained by an India and SEA cap-table platform... Qapita Article · 10 min read ROFR vs ROFO: A founder's guide to share transfer rights Qapita
  21. ROFR alone does not finish the job: you still need tag-along so a minority founder is not stranded when the majority exits, and... Qapita Article · 9 min read Transfer of Share Rights: Tag-Along and Drag-Along Explained Qapita
  22. This puts the transfer restrictions in their real home: the Indian SHA, alongside the lock-in, board consent and... IncorpX Article · 15 min read Shareholders' Agreement for Startups in India: Key Clauses You Must Include IncorpX
  23. This is the practical checklist for two founders sitting in different cities: it spells out that you need just one registered... IndiaFilings Article · 15 min read Private Limited Company Registration in India IndiaFilings
  24. ClearTax gives the plain-language walkthrough of the four-step process (DSC, DIN, SPICe+ name reservation, incorporation... ClearTax Article · 12 min read Company Registration in India: How to Register, Types, Documents, Fees ClearTax

Show the next 24

The questions

Finding a co-founder 18

Pick a partner as carefully as a spouse.

Do I actually need a co-founder, or can I go solo? 3 → Where do I actually find a co-founder if I don't already know one? 2 → What should I look for in a co-founder, and what are red flags? 3 → Should I co-found with a friend or family member? 2 → How do I 'date' a potential co-founder before committing? 3 → All 18 questions in Finding a co-founder →
Co-founder agreements & equity 18

Split fairly, vest always, write it down.

How should co-founders split equity fairly? 2 → What is vesting and why do I need a vesting schedule? 2 → Should I use a dynamic equity split like Slicing Pie instead of fixed percentages? 2 → What must go into a co-founder / founders' agreement in India? 2 → How much equity should I set aside for an ESOP pool for employees? 2 → All 18 questions in Co-founder agreements & equity →
Hiring your first employees 18

Your first ten hires are your culture.

When should I make my first hire? 2 → How do I hire my first engineer when nobody's heard of my startup? 2 → What kind of people should my first ten hires be? 3 → Should I hire full-time employees, contractors, or an agency first? 2 → How do I compensate early employees with salary and equity in India? 3 → All 18 questions in Hiring your first employees →
Culture, remote & operations 18

Build how you work before it breaks.

How do I build company culture intentionally from day one? 3 → Should my startup be remote, hybrid, or in-office? 2 → How do I run a remote team without endless meetings and burnout? 3 → What operating cadence and rituals should an early team have? 3 → How do I avoid burning out my small team while still moving fast? 3 → All 18 questions in Culture, remote & operations →
Incorporation & legal setup 18

Set up the entity right (US & India).

When should I actually incorporate my startup? 3 → Should I incorporate as a Delaware C-corp or an Indian Pvt Ltd? 3 → How do I incorporate a Delaware C-corp as a non-US or first-time founder? 2 → How do I register a Private Limited Company in India? 2 → What is DPIIT / Startup India recognition and is it worth getting? 2 → All 18 questions in Incorporation & legal setup →
IP, licenses & regulatory 22

Protect your idea, stay legal to sell.

How do I protect my idea when I have to share it to get it built? 3 → Can I protect my idea with a patent or an NDA before I launch? 3 → When is an NDA actually worth it, and when is it just theatre? 2 → Trademark vs patent vs copyright, which one do I actually need? 3 → How do I check if my brand name is free, and how do I trademark it in India? 2 → All 22 questions in IP, licenses & regulatory →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →