Becki DeGraw on founder vesting, advisor equity & the 4-term-sheet play

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/

Today's show:

One of YouTube's three co-founders left for grad school and walked away with a fraction of what his partners made on the Google sale. Becki DeGraw of Wilson Sonsini joins Jason for Startup Legal Basics to explain the vesting schedule behind that gap, and why you want one even if you never take a dollar of venture money.

Learn how VCs actually respond when a founder says "I've already put in four years," and the exact language Jason gives founders to turn one term sheet into three. PLUS, why is an inactive advisor still vesting your equity, and who wrote those performance milestones?

Guests:

Becki DeGraw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/

Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/

Relevant Links:

Becki DeGraw — partner in WSGR's San Francisco office — https://www.wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html

TechCrunch broke the YouTube story— https://techcrunch.com/2006/10/09/google-has-acquired-youtube/

Sequoia Capital — https://www.sequoiacap.com/

Roelof Botha — led Sequoia's YouTube investment and later ran the firm globally → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roelof_Botha

ESOP / employee stock option pool — https://thisweekinstartups.com/basics

Founder & advisor equity documents — https://www.wsgr.com/en/services/practice-areas/corporate/emerging-companies.html

Timestamps:

0:06 Becki DeGraw on why founder equity is "near and dear" to every founder

1:53 Founder vesting explained