What Happens to a Startup When a Cofounder Dies

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2015/06/25/what-happens-to-a-startup-when-a-cofounder-dies-kitchit/

by pyduan • 11 years ago

63 20 11 years ago

sneak• 11 years ago

It's really unprofessional of Forbes to misquote their main source of content for the article (he did not say "mindf dash dash k".)

nolepointer• 11 years ago

He did not say "mindf dash dash k." He said "mindf em dash k."

jriley• 11 years ago

I know a small partnership added "key man insurance" recently. Don't know rate but exams were required.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_person_insurance

mooreds2• 11 years ago

Seems like a great idea. However, not sure how much money would help in this situation.

meelooo• 11 years ago

Money can help get through the time you need to get back on your knees. I've had the misfortune of having my cofounder die after 18 month and two investments rounds and some money would have really help. Also you have to prepare for this kind of problems in advance because all of a sudden a substantial part of the shares of the company will be in limbo until the legalities are handled (and it can really stink if the family of the deceased is not helping...) which means: you can't raise money anymore, you can't really hire someone good as most people are very afraid of this kind of situation.

__z2• 11 years ago

I couldn't imagine any small company who didn't have life insurance on its owners - I thought that was like one of the first things you did. Guess it gets overlooked.

Rainymood• 11 years ago

who took intense joy in little things like drinking Diet Coke through a straw to avoid cavities

I'm not the only one!

warpzero• 11 years ago

... but Diet Coke doesn't have sugar in it, so it shouldn't cause cavities, right? Did a joke just go over my head or am I missing something?

marketer• 11 years ago

Diet coke has phosphoric acid which causes erosion of the enamel.

quaunaut2• 11 years ago

This is a remarkably well-written article. Made me really feel for the company, both in terms of sympathy and wanting to see them succeed.

One thing it did left me wondering, was covered in the final paragraph:

"...Engineers can spot his name and edits throughout the code repository. And occasionally, back-end commands will pop up messages, little surprises that Tang built into the system years ago. One reads, “You’re doing a good job today.”

How would your company react to messages like that? Do any of you take a strategy for injecting joy into your code?

kornish2• 11 years ago

At my company, each of our API responses sends a randomly selected compliment in an HTTP header. When we're onboarding new engineers, everybody's first commit to the codebase is adding a compliment to the list.

Nobody's noticed yet because the API is currently consumed only by us, but maybe they will someday. :)

quaunaut2• 11 years ago

I like that approach. Might I ask what the header is? HTTP-COMPLIMENT or somesuch?

It could be a fun 'standard'.

rokhayakebe• 11 years ago

What of his equity?

fnbr• 11 years ago

Presumably it's now owned by his estate, like the rest of his assets.

benatkin• 11 years ago

He probably had a vesting schedule. So it may not be all that large of a chunk of equity.

yellowapple• 11 years ago

This is a haiku / To ask you, please turn off your / ad blocker. Love, Forbes

Here's a better one: / I use ad blockers because / your ads annoy me.

What Happens to a Startup When a Cofounder Dies

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