dhoward

Are you sure that AOL didn't contract to license it from Yahoo! and rebrand it?

Realistically, you probably can't.

If you go to the founders and threaten, they'll probably fire you. They got funding now so you're replaceable with somebody who will accept post-funding equity.

If you go to the founders and beg, they'll probably talk you out of it. They won't increase your compensation unless they see an increase in value.

If you go to the founders and say, "Tell me what I can do to really help the company" and then work like a dog to become an out-and-out performer, they may (repeat, may) appreciate your outperformance of the rest of the team and want to give you a big equity boost. It's hard to hate a total coding monster and you have to be a bad person to want to cheat somebody who will kamikaze himself for your company. Still, you have to do that for several years and really become the guy that they say, "If we only had three more guys exactly like him!" And, in the end, expect it to take years to build up a decent equity position and realize that they don't have to give you anything. And, of course, you've got to be a total coding monster.

Oh, and I suppose that the issuing of corporate stock might be considered more complex than creating interests in an LLC. Technically, it is probably not more physical paperwork or actual reporting but the knowledge and burden is probably significantly greater.

I don't see it as a big deal but C corps require Board of Director meetings, Shareholder meetings, corporate minutes and corporate resolutions. From what I read, LLCs don't require these things but you may want to do them if your LLC involves more than a few people.

LLC taxes probably aren't much different than corporate taxes. Calculating profit is the hard part and you have to do that in both cases.

Creating an LLC is often just a little bit of paperwork, just like a corporation. It may vary, depending on your state. Since you only do it one time, anyway, the burden in terms of creation paperwork isn't usually significant.