For years, on the subject of co-founder relationships and equity, I've had thoughts I never had the time to put down and organise.
Technology changed that — the tools finally give me the room to organise what I think and actually say it. So I'm starting here.
But why would I want to say so much about this?
I'm a corporate lawyer. I deal with shareholders' agreements almost every day. And deep down, I've stopped pretending they're a magic potion. The standard clauses can help when there's a dispute — but what about the day-to-day? The expectations? The relationship? A co-founder relationship keeps moving; the paper stays still.
The law looks formal and cold, but it still deals with relationships. Anyone who says otherwise is only reading the paper.
Nobody teaches the backbone underneath all of it: the relationship. So it gets undermined, quietly, until one day it's the thing that breaks. And it breaks the smart ones too. Some of the most capable founders I've met got stuck in a co-founder relationship they never saw going wrong — because it was the one part no one told them to watch.
And it's just sad to see. It's sad every time.
So this is me offering another angle. If you're building something with someone — a company, a partnership, anything that matters — I hope some of what I write is useful before you need it, not after.
That's the whole reason. I'll write what I see, from the seat I sit in. Take what's useful, leave the rest.
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