Early Stage Startups: The Biggest Killers

Re:Early Stage Startups: The Biggest Killers by kristianp on Tuesday April 15, 2014 @09:24PM (#7595442)

This sounds good. One point I don't agree with is this one:

    What happens if not all the early employees need to take a salary?

    Don't resolve these problems with shares. Instead, just keep a ledger of how 
    much you paid each of the founders, and if someone goes without salary, give 
    them an IOU. Later, when you have money, you'll pay them back in cash.

Those who don't take a salary don't take any risk, so I would say the IOU should be greater than the missed salary as a minimum.

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Re:Early Stage Startups: The Biggest Killers by tptacek on Tuesday April 15, 2014 @10:02PM (#7595604)

So pay it back with interest. The point is to avoid forcing the valuation question into internal tactical decisions, which is what you're doing if you issue shares to offset deferred salary.

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