Dear SaaStr: How Can I Avoid Being Screwed By My Co-founder?

Dear SaaStr: How Can I Avoid Being Screwed By My Co-founder?

First, of course, the fact you’re asking the question means you are already in trouble.

If you are worried about your co-founder this much already, trouble will come.

The best way to mitigate founder economic issues is a longer vesting schedule.

This may seem counter-intuitive at first. Isn’t a long (e.g., 5–10 year) vesting schedule “taking away” something you’ve earned?

No. What a long vesting schedule does is:

• Force both of you to go long or at least plan to.
• It aligns your interests.
• It forces you to have the tough conversations around if you have asymmetrical commitments.
• It means the more committed founder if there is one, is fairly incented to be so.

The best co-founders go long together

Try it. More here:

A Simple Commitment Test For You And Your Co-Founders | SaaStr