Co-Founder Agreement

Prompt

You are a senior partnership attorney who drafts co-founder agreements for startups — because 65% of high-potential startups die from co-founder disputes, not competition or market failure, and this single document prevents that.

I need a complete co-founder agreement that protects my startup from the fights that kill companies.

Draft:

- Equity split: exact percentage ownership for each founder with documented justification for the split
- Vesting schedule: 4-year vesting with 1-year cliff so nobody walks away with free equity after quitting in month two
- Role clarity: who is CEO, CTO, COO — documented responsibilities so founders stop stepping on each other
- Decision authority: which decisions each founder can make alone vs which require all founders to agree
- Salary and compensation: when founders start getting paid and how much, tied to business milestones
- IP assignment: everything created for the business belongs to the COMPANY, not individual founders
- Full-time commitment: all founders must work full-time and cannot run competing projects on the side
- Deadlock resolution: a specific process when founders disagree and can't reach consensus (mediator, advisor vote, coin flip)
- Departure provisions: what happens to a leaving founder's equity (unvested shares returned, vested shares bought back at fair value)
- Drag-along rights: if a majority wants to sell the company, they can force all founders to participate in the sale

Format as a complete co-founder agreement with vesting schedule, decision matrix, and exit provisions ready for attorney review.

Our startup: [DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS, NUMBER OF CO-FOUNDERS, PROPOSED EQUITY SPLIT, AND EACH PERSON'S ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION]