Hi,
I am seeking some feedback on this situation. I am a serial solo founder. I have worked on 3 startups over 5 years. I learned a lot from all of them and each had more success than the last. All of them generated profit but not massive amounts. My vocation is entrepreneurship. I will not stop until I succeed. I have made a lot of sacrifices to continue my entrepreneurship journey.
I am now working on a very exciting project. I believe I have found what has held me back from large success. That is a large dose of market research. This project has everything I need to be a success. I nearly have all of the ingredients in my toolkit to make this project a success. I am lacking a specific dev skill. I could learn to be this developer, but it would take me some time to learn.
My skill set includes
- Marketing
- Design
- Sales
- Market research
- Web & Mobile
- Product
- General startup experience, getting shit done and solving problems
The project I am working on has been vetted, it is in a great market. People in this market have money to spend. There is healthy competition and the estimated income of them is good. There is not too much competition. I spent several months seeking a suitable project for my next startup. This is not a startup idea that I created. This is a startup that I chose to make based on the market. I spent months seeking something suitable.
I onboarded another developer. Her job is to take on this specific development task. I will handle everything else. Including mobile, web, marketing, sales, decision-making, design, and more. We agreed on 20% equity over a two-year period. Earning 5% per 6 months. While she works on the project she gets 20% profit. No salary, this is a bootstrapped project. They are aware of the income projections. She works professionally full-time as a developer.
We have launched and we are getting some small traction. No sales. I am happy with where we are at this moment. I am about to launch a marketing initiative that is promising. There is lots of work to do, but we are in a good spot with an MVP out.
The cofounder is a hard worker. She is doing a good job. I think she was a good choice in that she is doing the work. She is very much a developer. I feel she contributes in meetings, but if I had better finances they could be replaced by another developer. She seems like she may be a bit temperamental. I feel as though she could kind of explode or something. Nothing has happened. We have a good relationship. We meet twice a week online. I think we work well together. I did not know her before this venture. I do slightly fear us having an argument and her getting stroppy.
We are about to launch this new marketing campaign. She has requested more equity. This was brought up before and I explained that if she took more responsibility I would give her more equity. She said that she was not sure she could manage more roles. She has the experience to take on the mobile and web roles.
She mentioned something like 50% equity, explaining to me she has worked very hard and beyond her original role of x developer. This may be true in a minor sense but no major contributions outside of her role have been made.
She is an important part of the team. I like her contribution. I do not like how she brought this up. I was not directly given an ultimatum but I felt like it could have been one. Her work is about 50% of the total development work.
I said before I could give her a total of 40% if she takes on the whole tech side, x dev, mobile, and web. She is reluctant to do that. I also am not sure I want to give more equity if there is a chance of an ultimatum situation. Our trust is building. I worry about the temperamental nature I sometimes see glimpses of. I think the major part of her specific role should be coming to an end.
I want her to be happy. I want to be fair. If she leaves the project would be crippled. I would need to find someone to replace her or I would have to learn her role. If there is an ultimatum ex: if you don't give me more equity I am leaving and going to delete everything. Then it is time for me to leave her.
I am not opposed to giving more equity. How would that work if they take on the mobile and web in the future? If I give them 30% total now, then that is a small incentive for 40% total to take on mobile. Also, I do not see the relationship as equal. I am the major contributor here. I manage them. They are not self-managing even for their role. I make all the decisions. I don't really like the idea of them being a bigger partner when I am bringing all the major moves to the table.
I am also not sure I like the idea of giving them more equity for no increase in responsibilities.
Over the last 6 months, she has become more a part of the team(me and her). Maybe her role was more work than she expected. I have tried to give all the information for you to give me a good analysis of the situation. I would be grateful if you gave me your thoughts. Thank you Reddit.
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