Ownership: Keeping What You Build
How do I make sure the company is actually mine, and stays worth something?
Ownership is a hygiene practice, not an event. Every asset in the entity, every contributor on a written IP assignment, every co-founder on a four-year vest with a one-year cliff, clean books from month one. Do it early and it costs hours; do it late and it costs equity or the sale itself.
Ownership questions are boring right up until they are the only thing that matters: when a co-founder leaves, when a buyer runs diligence, when a freelancer who wrote your core module claims they still own it. All three are cheap to prevent and brutal to fix.
The five-item ownership floor
- 01Everything is in the entity. Domain, code repository, brand assets, accounts, contracts, customer data. Not in your personal name, not on a freelancer's account.
- 02Every contributor signs an IP assignment. Freelancers, agencies, that friend who designed the logo. No exceptions, no matter how friendly.
- 03Co-founders vest. Four years, one-year cliff. Especially the person you cannot imagine leaving.
- 04Books are clean from month one. Separate account, monthly bookkeeping, no personal spending mixed in.
- 05Customer contracts are written and assignable. A handshake business cannot be sold.
Equity, when there is more than one of you
Equal splits are common and rarely correct. Split on the honest weighting of who is full-time, who took the risk, who brought the idea versus who will do the decade of work — with the last weighted heaviest. Write it down, vest it, and revisit only in writing.
Building something transferable
Even if you never intend to sell, build as though you might. It forces documented processes, real contracts, clean numbers and a business that does not depend on your memory. That is also, not coincidentally, the version of the company you would actually enjoy running.
A messy company is a discounted company — and the discount is applied at the worst possible moment.
Do this next
- Audit where every asset lives. Move anything held personally into the entity.2 hours
- Send IP assignments to every past and present contributor.1 hour
- If you have a co-founder without vesting, fix it this month.1 week
- Start monthly bookkeeping, even if the numbers are tiny.1 hour/month
Avoid
- —Verbal equity agreements with people you trust. Especially those.
- —Freelancers building core assets on their own accounts.
- —Postponing incorporation past your first paying customer.
“Audit my ownership hygiene against the five-item floor and tell me what a buyer would flag first.”
Ask Aury thisThat's the end of this path. Pick another, or take it into the workspace with Aury.
Last edited 2026-07-28