Startups Stack Exchange Archive

What do I need to know before I join a startup as the sole developer and a co-founder

The idea of startup has been crossing my mind for a while. And that is why I joined this forum. However, my knowledge about it remained very basic. Because I was not thinking of it as a near future thing.

Recently, I was approached by someone, who offered me to join a startup he is establishing soon, as a developer and co-founder. As he said, the fund will be secured after the prototype (There are two funding groups he is talking to). He said there is already a CTO, and they are looking for a developer. When I discussed further, I found that me and the CTO do not have much in common in terms of technologies we work on. Therefore, the product/prototype (which is mainly mobile App) will be accomplished either by myself or himself (We can help and learn, but that will take time. So I imagine most of the burden at the beginning will be on one of our shoulders).

The CTO has no problem with developing the App using the technology I know. There will be few weeks of developing the prototype (we will work only on weekends, and will not get paid). After the prototype, will join officially and get paid (Although the pay will not be higher than what I earn now. In fact, it might be lower, at least at the beginning).

I tried to ask and clarify a lot of things. Although I really want to give this opportunity full consideration, I am afraid that I am not approaching it the right way.

What should I know/ask before I decide to join, given that I will be the sole developer (at least until the product takes off)?

Answer 8955

What should I know/ask before I decide to join, given that I will be the sole developer (at least until the product takes off)?

I don’t see you as a sole developer. I see you as the second developer for the startup, even though the responsibilities are uneven between you and your CTO.

So, these are some questions which you need to ask before opting in:

  1. What is the equity split? And how is it decided? (It depends on a lot of factors including the money invested by the founding team)
  2. What would be your role and responsibilities? I see there is a conflict of interest about the role with your CTO, so you might want to resolve that.
  3. Would you be compensated during the prototype development phase? If yes, then how. If not, then why not? IMHO, you should be compensated.
  4. How much influence would you have on the engineering decisions including the hiring and firing decisions of the team?
  5. What is the business model for the company? Or how would they generate revenue?

Answer 8966

I think you should focus on receiving adequate compensation for your services and not being taken advantage of.

For example, one startup I was a part of wanted to offer me stock (worthless at the time, obviously, before there is a product) in exchange for code. The problem is, the code they wanted has value the moment its written. The stock, on the other hand, did not. And it might never have value.

These are the types of ideas starry-eyed CEOs have. But in the real world, it’s really a means of taking advantage of the gullible (or those that don’t know any better) IMO and it’s advisable from my POV to be and remain leery of such lopsided compensation offers in an early stage startup.

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