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 canonical case for splitting close to equal, written by a YC group partner. It arms you with the exact four reasons... Y Combinator Essay · 5 min read How to Split Equity Among Founders Michael Seibel
  2. The first-hand cautionary tale our answer needs. Kwan went 50/50 across two startups over nine years, put in 100k of her own... Melissa Kwan (eWebinar founder) Essay · 10 min read Why cofounders should not split equity 50/50 Melissa Kwan
  3. The India edge on paper. It states plainly that "equal splits are often unfair," then does what the US pieces skip: it turns... Razorpay Rize Article · 12 min read How to Draft a Co-founders Agreement: A Complete Guide Razorpay Rize
  4. This is the plain-English explainer that says the quiet part out loud: the 4-year schedule with a 1-year cliff exists so a... HSBC Innovation Banking Article · 9 min read Founder vesting: what early-stage founders need to know HSBC Innovation Banking
  5. This is the cleanest map of the three ways co-founders actually decide things: consensus, functional expertise (your domain,... edbatista.com Essay · 12 min read On Co-Founder Decision-Making Ed Batista
  6. GitLab runs a fully remote company on exactly the rule your answer prescribes: every area has one named owner who holds the... GitLab Handbook Article · 15 min read Directly Responsible Individuals (DRI) GitLab
  7. A concrete account of co-founders going full-time on a stagger, not in lockstep: Erich left his job in July 2018 to run sales... Indie Hackers Article · 12 min read Quitting Our Jobs to Follow Our Callings Alessandro DiSanto and Erich Kerekes
  8. Two working VCs answer the exact question, and they answer it like operators, not lawyers: run the split through a neutral... BetaKit Article · 9 min read Ask an Investor: How do I fire my co-founder? Katherine Hague and Roger Chabra
  9. This is the India-specific mechanics your answer demands. It lays out both routes: a co-founder who resigns (company files Form... ClearTax Article · 10 min read Change in Directors: Appointment, Resignation and Removal ClearTax editorial team
  10. A VC opens its own portfolio: 35 of 100 companies had a founder leave, most inside two years, so a split is normal, not a... Icehouse Ventures Article · 8 min read 35% of founders break up. Here's what we've learned. Icehouse Ventures
  11. This draws the exact line you are asking about with Indian numbers: a late-joining co-founder lands at 20 to 40 percent, while... EquityList Article · 18 min read ESOP 101: How to Set Up Your ESOP Pool as an Indian Company EquityList
  12. This is the counterweight to the "solo founders get penalized" folklore, built on Carta's cap-table data rather than vibes. It... Solo Founders (citing Carta) Article · 10 min read Fundraising as a Solo Founder: The Data Proves You Won't Pay a "Solo Tax" Ari Dutilh
  13. Most of the solo-vs-team debate is written for US VCs writing US-sized cheques. This one is written for the Indian raise, where... Xartup Article · 9 min read Solo Founder vs Co-Founders: What VCs Really Think Asmita (Spotlight by Xartup)
  14. 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)
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. YC is openly skeptical of a remote co-founder (they discount the plan if a linchpin is distant), which makes this the most... Y Combinator Video · 35 min Best Practices for Managing a Remote Team Y Combinator
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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

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 →