Four months ago he approached me with the idea, which I liked, and I started working on it. I like to do stuff, and I started working on it as a side project. I have a very well compensated job in a local startup and I would like continue to do that in the short/medium term.

As I said, we have a really good idea and a working product. Is not crazy to say that my co-founder could raise a couple hundred thousand dollars from investors in our current state. My concern is that so far everything, my equity, and possible future role in the company has only been agreed verbally.

I’ve mentioned my co-founder several times that we need to incorporate and he says it’s one of the things on his list, but never happens. He says is not the right time and that we must incorporate once the investors jump in. I feel like I’m the one who has worked the most during this four months and I don’t want to end up without a single share of ownership in the company that’s going to be behind our product.

HN: How can I guarantee that I keep my value as a co-founder and get something in return in case we succeed? How can I prevent this other person from taking the code (which I shared with him) and give it to someone else to continue working on it, taking me out of the picture? I’ve heard of several similar stories, I just don’t want to be part of one. Thank you.