Preparing for Funding Ep2: Founders’ Agreements – Recut

Office Hours is our podcast covering general issues related to small businesses and startups. Preparing For Funding is a series of Office Hours episodes hosted by VW Partners Kevin Vela and Rad Wood about getting your company’s legal house in order before taking on funding. We are recutting this series to reflect updates in law and venture trends in the last 5 years to better help you navigate through preparing for funding.

In this episode, we discuss founders’ agreements, including Restricted Stock Purchase Agreements (RSPAs), Confidential Information and Inventions Assignment Agreements (CIIAAs), and Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation Agreements.

• 1:48 – Why It’s Important to Have Founders’ Agreements
• 4:35 – How Can Someone Walk Away with a Third of the Company?
• 6:03 – Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement (RSPA)
• 9:21 – Vesting Schedule
• 11:37 – Single Trigger v Double Trigger Acceleration 
• 14:55 – 83(b) Election
• 17:00 – Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation Agreements
• 18:15 – Confidential Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement (CIIAA)
• 22:37 – Ideal Number of Founders
• 26:47 – Founders Stock 

• Everyone Should Vest 
• Equity Incentive Plans for Startups
• Restricted Equity v. Options & 83(b) Elections
• How Founder “Vesting” Really Works
• The Company Agreement Explained: Confidential Information & Non-Competes
• Silicon Valley Review S5, Ep8: Hockey Stick Growth, Board Control & Fiduciary Growth
• How Much Equity Should I Grant Advisors? 
• The 50-50 Equity Split(Up)
• Pricing Stock Options