You are leaving. Your shares are not.
Co-founders leave startups all the time: a disagreement, a new project, a life change. The company goes on, and so do your shares. What you can do with them depends mostly on two things: your vesting and your leaver clauses.
First, know what you actually own
- Vesting. Founders' shares are often earned over several years. If you leave early, part of them may not be yours yet.
- Good leaver or bad leaver. Many agreements distinguish a friendly departure from a departure for misconduct or a breach. A bad leaver may have to sell shares back at a low price, sometimes at their nominal value.
- Options and warrants. If you hold options or warrants (such as BSPCE in France), they often have to be exercised within a set period after you leave, or they are lost.
Your options
- Keep your shares and wait for an exit. You stay exposed to the company's success, without a say in how it is run.
- Sell them back to the company or to the other founders, if the agreement allows or requires it.
- Sell them to an investor, in a secondary sale, subject to pre-emption and approval clauses. See Secondary sales.
Do it in the right order
Talk to your co-founders first: a negotiated departure is almost always better for everyone, including the company's value. Read your shareholders' agreement. Then get advice from a lawyer and a tax adviser: the tax treatment of a sale can vary a lot from one country to another.
Where Uback fits
If you would sell all or part of your stake, you can say so on Uback, confidentially. You will see whether investors are already interested in the company, and a licensed local partner can take your sale forward, privately, with your consent.
Sell your shares, confidentially →
Uback provides no legal, tax or investment advice. Each situation depends on your shareholders' agreement and on applicable law: check them with your own advisers.
More for shareholders: Sell your shares Secondary sales Shareholders' agreements