founder friendly term sheet

Are there any standard contract templates for investors and founders to use when funding startups?

Here’s me at Enchanted Rock meditating on a better way to beat the odds at the startup lottery.
Here’s me at Enchanted Rock meditating on a better way to beat the odds at the startup ‘lottery.’

Yes. There are lots of templates available, and you should start by retaining an attorney who represents founders. Your attorney may have a set of templates that you can have adapted to the Founder Friendly Standard.

After learning hard lessons about the tension between investors and founders, I teamed up with my former business partner, Dan Flanegan, and my former attorney, K. Adam Bloom, to create an open-source standard that you can attach to any bylaw agreement, term sheet, employment agreement, etc.

It’s called the Founder Friendly Standard. It has 17 sections that can lay common disputes to rest such as who gets to vote, who gets liquidation preferences, what is the scope of non-compete, etc.

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Update: Founder Friendly Standard v1.1

Pictures of Founder Friendly Standard Authors
Pictures of Founder Friendly Standard Authors
Founder Friendly Standard Authors: Dan Flanegan, Eisaiah Engel, Adam Bloom

Founder Friendly Standard v1.0 has been updated today. The new version of the standard is 1.1. Here is a description of the change:

  • Section 2.4 – clarifying language (in bold) has been added for companies outside of the United States. The section now reads: Due to potentially devastating tax consequences, the company tells individuals receiving sweat equity in the United States to consult with a tax professional about making an election under Section 83(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. Founders who live or pay taxes outside the United States are similarly advised to consult tax professionals about applicable local and national taxes.

The change has been applied to: