Re:How to Evaluate Startup Offers
by boulos on Saturday October 09, 2021 @01:49PM
(#28811804)
IANAL, but there are two "problems" with this claim.
One is that "just create a bunch of shares and only give them to the founder" is true, but has tax consequences. (In your example, you just gave ~90% of the company to the founder at valuation $XM. Whether as options or as Restricted Stock, there's going to be a tax consequence to that either at grant or during vesting). A dishonest founder might do that, but they'd have to believe it was going to work out in their favor beyond just "I already have 40%, let's increase the value of the company".
Second though is that the Founders, usually as CEO and Board Directors, have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders. Even if you have full control of the voting rights, reallocating all the equity is a violation of that fiduciary responsibility. The injured parties have to sue you for it, and that might make the company equity worthless, but just because a company is private doesn't mean "anything goes".
One is that "just create a bunch of shares and only give them to the founder" is true, but has tax consequences. (In your example, you just gave ~90% of the company to the founder at valuation $XM. Whether as options or as Restricted Stock, there's going to be a tax consequence to that either at grant or during vesting). A dishonest founder might do that, but they'd have to believe it was going to work out in their favor beyond just "I already have 40%, let's increase the value of the company".
Second though is that the Founders, usually as CEO and Board Directors, have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders. Even if you have full control of the voting rights, reallocating all the equity is a violation of that fiduciary responsibility. The injured parties have to sue you for it, and that might make the company equity worthless, but just because a company is private doesn't mean "anything goes".