Yes. This depends on your contract with them. You
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i wasn’t paid for work i did as a co-founder, so i was given 8 points of the company. i was fine with this. now that i’m leaving the company they’re making me relinquish my 8 points, which i earned, for co-founding, and putting in years worth of work. is this normal?
No paperwork, handshake and verbal as they had no money to pay me and I took the 8 points instead
Well then how are they “taking” It back if they never gave it to you in the first place 😅
I've done equity design work in the past. Typically it starts off with a verbal agreement and eventually we sign a contract/paperwork, etc. if they want you to give up your points, I would request a cash payment based on what you think is fair based on the company size, etc.
in any case, i would collect your papertrail of any emails, slack messages, etc. discussing the proposed equity, as i read in your other response there was no paperwork. You might need legal help if they just want you to give up 8% (!) of a company that you helped build
Typically (when properly documented) you would lose your ownership, but you would be compensated for that same percentage based on the valuation of the company at the time. It’s not always drawn up this way, and there can be lots of caveats, but it’s a common approach.