Molson Hart

c. hmm...didn't think about that. Will awarding stock/options in a valueless company create tax liability? d. mutual agreement after conversation.

if you award it early on you can make it work. options are taxed upon sell (plus can trigger AMT on exercise) stocks are taxed upon vesting and sale, but sometimes you can fast forward taxation upon grant (when the company is valueless). there are conditions thuogh

basically it's ok if the employee comes in super early or late, it sucks between series B/C/D... and IPO

Yeah, makes sense. I'm sure there's some way to address this and correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a problem for all incubators - not just this model?

there are ideal ways for founders (issue stocks upon founding), but AFAIK no perfect way exists for the middle part i mentioned. not sure if that applies to your case. and yes it affects all startups.

I think, if we have this problem, we will have succeeded. Do you think we'll be lucky enough to have this problem? Is there any allure to you in what I described?

right, sorry, it was a bit more about my anxieties than your questions :) i'd say 25yo me would go for it, today me would not accept 4. the other conditions are good i think. so there's probably a crowd for it.

If the incubator were someone you respected with domain experience, would that change your mind on 4? What if instead of full control it was some sort of veto power over capital decisions?