Case file 03 / 08 · Startup & Founder Legal Advisory

The co-founder who walked

The problem

Two founders, no signed founder agreement. One left after eight months, kept half the equity, and claimed the code he had written was his — weeks before a seed round.

What we did

We mapped what the company actually owned and what it didn't, then negotiated from that: a buy-back of the equity he hadn't earned and a written assignment of everything he built, in exchange for a clean mutual release.

Outcome

A clean cap table and clean IP before the investors' due diligence began.

SolvedCap table clean

Illustrative composite — drawn from the kinds of matters we handle, not a specific client. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.