Once you grant an employee, partner or service provide equity for their future contributions to your company, you can’t take it back (without legal action). As a result, it’s very important that you make sure to vest every equity grant that you make – giving the recipient rights to more equity as they achieve milestones. MORE >>

It never makes sense to give anyone equity without vesting. The thing I love the most about Joel's post is he throws darts into a lot of conventional wisdom about founder equity allocation. particularly like his notion that the person with the idea should not command a premium on equity allocation. Great post by Joel. MORE >>

Thanks to George Zachary , a partner at Charles River Ventures , for sponsoring Venture Hacks this week. So you know what questions to ask your potential investors about their investors (their limited partners ). Venture capital firms have limited partners. Most of the capital came from the limited partners. MORE >>

This covers one of the most common situations I encounter: For a pre-funding web startup whose team includes only a non-technical cofounder, how much equity should an incoming technical cofounder get? This is an area that varies widely and can significantly impact how much equity a technical cofounder receives (if they take more salary). MORE >>

Founders Dilemmas: Equity Splits. The following is an exclusive excerpt which sets up a common pitfall regarding equity splits. In Noam’s dataset, 73% of founding teams split equity within a month of founding, a striking number given the big uncertainties early in the life of any startup. Founders Dilemmas: Equity Splits. MORE >>