Comment by tatsuke95 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tatsuke95 | Hacker News Reader

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>"lets just wait until I can stop your financing"

It's not just my financing; it's your financing as well. I suppose you're more than welcome to have a stake in something worth nothing, of your own volition.

>"but let's not hassle with it now"

You're going to have a hell of time proving your case then, aren't you? Unless, of course, you can prove to the arbiter that you've done the work that is deemed sufficient for the stake you're claiming you deserve. In which case, I guess I shouldn't really have an issue giving you that share. Working as intended?

I'll throw one at you: we agree you take a "little equity", say, 2%. You do an assload of work for me, and I imply on occasion that I'll up your stake, but never actually do. Then I sell the company for billions. You're going to be pretty happy that you just might have a case that you deserve more than you got, in spite of our contract.

"You're going to have a hell of time proving your case then, aren't you?"

It's the obligation of the company, not the contractor/employee, to show that it has secured the rights to the work that is included their product.

If you have someone work on your product, and you don't put down in writing what their agreed upon compensation is (and/or you don't pay that compensation), you're not going to be in a good spot when someone starts doing due diligence for a financing or a sale.

Not being explicit about ownership / comp before a financing deal is on the table is a recipe for heartache.

something makes me think you haven't been through this sort of thing.

hint: it's the "proving your case" part. in this scenario, the parties rarely go to trial or arbitration.

i don't really need a basis for a case, just a basis for a threat. 'rattling the sabres', so to speak. it's sad, but true.

>"something makes me think you haven't been through this sort of thing."

By "this sort of thing", do you mean an equity dispute? No, I haven't.

But as someone part of running a mid-size company, I have been party to being threatened by baseless accusations. Guess what happens when there is "no basis for a case"? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Business as usual.

So, judging by your comment that you "don't really need a basis for a case", I can assume that you haven't been through this, either. But, if you're curious, go ahead and try to sue someone with no basis for a case, and see how the system deals with you.

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