Yes, but you are thinking about it wrong.
Vesting protects you. It protects you from co-founders that aren’t as committed as you. More here:
SaaStr | A Simple Commitment Test For You And Your Co-Founders
Yes, there is an us vs. them element to VCs. No doubt. VCs think about vesting as a way to protect themselves (not that it really does that), and more specifically, as a way to manage the cap table when folks leave the company.
But as long as you maintain control of your company and don’t give that away to the VCs, the real bummer that can come out of all of this is when your “partner” and “co-founder” flames out in 11 months and takes all her equity with her.
And you’re running the company for 10 more years. For the same number of shares your co-founder that quit on month 11 has.
You’ll really, really. Really. Wish you’d had vesting on those shares.
