mickeyM

Yeah, at this point I'll be careful about everything I sign & do, not only with this startup but with any I'd potentially join in the future

That's right, but I remember that Jim really wanted to have his name on that contract which I've accepted at that time since he was the one coming up with the money for development

Great take, thanks!

The contract with developers states that Jim will own the finished product. My role in the app development was to make the initial sketches & app flow (both in the beginning and during the development), some design stuff, and Android testing, so I guess it can be argued that Jim doesn't own 100% of the current app because I've contributed something to the development as well

That's true, I've definitely learned a lot, I guess during my time with the company I was able to cover a lot of curriculum on various topics :)

It would just feel bad to me to walk away for free from something I was working on that can be tomorrow sold for couple (tens of)thousands (the value doesn't really matter in this case) for free

Thanks a lot. I think regarding the IP it's very messy and questionable who owns how much, because he may have paid for the development, but it was based on by sketches & app flow, and I've contributed to the development with a lot of testing & design stuff. Even if he wanted to take his chances, Jim would be in a worse position than me since it would be pretty unclear what I'm entitled to & that could be toxic for investors or in case he wanted to sell it right away.

We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, I'd stand my ground as you've and others suggested and we'll see what happens. If it gets really messy maybe I'd think about bringing on a lawyer, but it would have to be certain that I'm not going to lose money because of that since lawyers... well, aren't cheap

Thanks for sharing your experience - that sounds pretty bad, I hope you work it out somehow. I think the vesting schedules should be talked about more especially among starting entrepreneurs so they can prevent situations like ours.

If you are comfortable sharing it - what is the reason the guy leaving the company doesn't want to negotiate something with you? Does he want to retain his full equity?

Right, thanks!

Thank you. They won't rework the app until they make some money off it first, so for the time being they would pretty much leave it as is. Since the freelance programmers (unknowingly) took very little money, the real value of the source code could potentially be a few tens of thousands. Even if it was just the $11.000, there is a value just in the source code

Good point. It's definitely something I'll consider. I guess in case I retain some equity, it would be sort of an agreement that I'll receive XY % in case the company is sold, so technically I wouldn't have a stake in the company & be responsible for the tax stuff

:) Thanks, sounds good!

Yeah, there was no such agreement

Thank you. We're not from the "better" European countries, so I'm not sure whether my work would have that much value. Maybe it would, but Jim would NEVER pay that kind of money. In that case I would most likely end up with some equity and nice bill from a lawyer, which isn't something I can afford right now.

Yeah, that's also one of the reasons for walking away, better to get it over with now