Ask HN: Egyptian Startup Woes
My partner and I are working on a big project that will hopefully change the way Egyptians and the Middle East in general use the internet. I will not mention what, because the idea is just that good.
I'm the technical mind behind the project, while my partner and best friend handles the financial and marketing aspects of our budding business.
Last night we got a call from our lawyer, who is responsible for handling the paperwork and our general affairs with the Egyptian government. He said we had a problem.
During an interview with the Bureau of Investment, and after showing them the premise of our idea, and explaining out profit model. The head of the bureau told our lawyer that in order for him to approve our paperwork, they needed a way to monitor our online transactions.
Upon hearing this I thought he was requiring access to the transaction logs of payments sent and received online; but I was wrong.
Turns out he wants us to accept his son as a co-founder. With 30% ownership.
What should we do?