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Comment by passwordoops | Hacker News Reader

Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in here, but what kind of deal do you have with him (i.e. can you fire him)? Either way, I'd consult with a lawyer to see what your options are

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Yes we can fire him, but that doesn't solve our issues with his shares. Our investor would put up more money for development, but not while the CTO is involved with the company anymore.

We would much rather continue working on our own without him.

Then talk to a lawyer specializing in start ups asap

> not while the CTO is involved with the company anymore

Fire the CTO and ban him from the premises. You and your investor control 95% of the company, you can more than easily ensure he is a total non-entity to your company forever.

Surely should be doable to buy the co-founder with 5% ownership out? But yes talk to a lawyer no HN help will pale to that of an actual lawyer.

How would we value his 5% shares of a company that has no money now, no product, no revenue. We have some designs, brand design etc, valued patent (although 4 years old now). But we need to do new hardware design, still develop our software.

How was it valued in the first place?...

Talk to a lawyer

Double the initial valuation and give them that divided by 20. Then you can move on. Just a wild thought though.

Guy still doesn't have to sell his shares, he still might want more and you cannot force someone to sell off his shares - only way is to agree on price he will accept. You still might make reasonable arguments but yeah making arguments doesn't make the deal, other guy agreeing makes the deal.

His initial valuation is itself questionable. How is 250k at a 1m valuation equal to 70% for the investor? Sounds like an error on OP's part in the post, or a very painful mistake irl.

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