Simple Money Borrowing and Lending Rules to Live By

In 1964 a local businessman lent my father enough money to launch his business; you could say his money, combined with my father’s ambition, underwrote the next fifty years of our family’s above-average financial well-being. My father was able to grow a substantial business, and the lender, a man that expected very little in return, slightly profited; however, he left a lasting impact that spanned three generations.

More often than not, businesses are built upon loans. Without loans, the world of commerce would come to a grinding halt. If you plan to borrow or lend money, here are a few simple rules to live by:      

Borrowing: Nobody forgets a bad debtor! A debtor is someone that owes a sum of money. The only way to become a debtor is to take on a commitment to pay a person, friend, bank, company, or other lender in the future. If you owe money to anyone, for any reason, you are a debtor.  Who you owe, the amount you owe, why you are indebted, and your current circumstances DO NOT MATTER. Unless you are released from your debts, you are a debtor. If you don’t live up to your payment commitments, you are a bad debtor. You can be friendly, smart, generous, and soulful, but if you are a bad debtor, it’s a negative tag that’s impossible to escape. The database is permanent, and although people forgive, they never forget unpaid debts. If you want to avoid being a bad debtor, don’t go into debt. And if you choose to go into debt, make damn sure that you thoroughly understand, and can live by...the terms of your debts.  

If you are struggling with your debts, always, always communicate with your lenders; reiterate your commitments; negotiate extended terms; and never act as though your misfortunes are someone else’s problem or responsibility. Pay your debts and be remembered as a good debtor. I want to reiterate that being a bad debtor does not equate to being a bad person. Understandably, some people have to ask for their debts to be forgiven. The point is, the “bad debtor” tag is nearly impossible to shake, and better to be avoided altogether.

Lending: Smart lenders anticipate bad debtors. Unfortunately, there are too many good people that are bad debtors. If you are thinking about loaning someone money, or getting paid in the future for anything, including your labor, make sure you can afford to convert your ‘loan’ into a donation. People get sick. People fall on hard times. Stuff happens. As a creditor, be prepared to suspend or extend payments and forgive debts.  

When lending, ask for repayment terms, including interest, that are equivalent to the terms you would be willing to accept as a borrower. When the potential for nonpayment is obvious, charge higher rates. Be transparent about everything and never take advantage of people. Put everything in writing. Here’s a tip: use your phone to record a video whereby the debtor reiterates his or her commitments; nothing outlasts a reminder that includes the recorded words of a borrower.

It’s really, really challenging to be both a friend and a creditor. If a friend needs money, once again...make a donation. If a friend owes you money, is unwilling to live by your agreement, and is threatening to end your friendship, then they are friends you don’t need. Collect what’s owed and find new friends.   

Lending and borrowing can change lives and help dreams come true. No matter the amount or the persons involved, take it seriously and live up to your commitments.  

I write these notes to share with my children...

The Haley Pitch Every Founder Should Know

Prior to spending a ton of time on a business plan or an investor deck, create a simple Haley Pitch.  It's the most efficient way to obtain valuable feedback from advisors, mentors, and the critics you respect.

You don't need to nail it.  

However, you should be able to demonstrate that you have invested at least one hundred hours discussing prototypes, mockups, storyboards, or wireframes with potential users and/or customers.

Meet Haley

While creating pitches for my last four ventures, we used a fictional character called Haley as our ideal user. 

Depending on the venture, Haley has been a mom, an event planner, the CEO of a non-profit, and a bride. 

Once you've got it down, you'll be able to deliver the Haley Pitch in three minutes.  

Here’s how:  

Slide One (above):  Backstory & Problem

Start with a story.  Quickly describe Haley, her situation (context), and her acute problem.

When using pictures, you don't need demographic details.  

“Haley is a bride.  She’s marrying Jeff.  Haley needs to discuss and obtain feedback on cakes, venues, bands, dresses, food, and a myriad of other details from her bridesmaids, her mother, her in-laws, from Jeff, and even from Jeff’s friends!  Coordinating all this using email will create a clustercluck.  Clusterclucks are hard to manage.”

Clustercluck defined: “Any set of circumstances in which massive disorganization has the potential to cause serious damage, or a disastrous situation that results from the cumulative errors of several people or groups.”

Please also read “It’s Not What You Said, It’s How You Made Them Feel” by Tyler Crowley.

Slide Two (above):  Product Scaffolding

Similar to construction scaffolding, entrepreneurs can use 'scaffolding' to construct the concept of their venture.

In one sentence (see template below), combine the job-to-be-done (by your product or service), your brand name, and your unique value proposition.

This is also where you show a screenshot(s), storyboards, an early demo, and/or paint (over the phone) a clear, concise picture of your product or service.

Template: “When Haley wants to X, she'll use Y to get Z.”

• X - job-to-be-done / pain to be eliminated

• Y - your brand name

• Z - unique value proposition

“When Haley wants to privately coordinate her wedding plans with everyone who matters, she'll use StackChat to simply manage a related stack of issues and input [i.e.: prevent a clustercluck}."

Below are some additional examples that combine a job-to-be-done with a brand and a value proposition.

• When Haley wants to be transported across town, Haley uses Uber to obtain inexpensive on-demand transportation.

• When Haley wants to remember a song, Haley uses Shazam to rapidly acquire essential song information.

• When Haley wants to consume a lot of information, Haley uses Instapaper to transform distracting web pages into a uniform stream of curated information.

• When Haley wants news, Haley uses the Boston Globe website to obtain current, reliable, genuine information.

Watch:  a short video related Jobs-To-Be-Done featuring Clayton Christensen.

Read:  The Few Sentences You Need to Dominate Your Market

Read:  David Cancel talking about his “No Ands” rule.  

Read:  my post on Product Scaffolding

Slide Three (above):  More Scaffolding.

For those who can't relate to your first job-to-done example (e.g.: coordinating wedding plans), quickly outline additional examples.  

"Travel planning, housing decisions, big ticket purchase, repairs, group dining, health, and healthcare decisions...all have potential to become clusterclucks.  When Haley wants to privately coordinate these things with everyone that matters, she'll use StackChat to simply manage a related stack of issues and input."

Slide Four (above):  Mobile App:  Job-To-Be-Done

If your mobile app only had ONE button (think Shazam), what would it do for users?  If your answer contains the word ‘and’, be prepared to defend the clarity of your product vision.  Your mobile app should be the one-click, one-button manifestation of your product scaffolding, and not a feature cacciatore.

"When Haley launches StackChat, she will be able to quickly respond to her clustecluck messages by subcategory."

Learn more about Jobs-To-Be-Done on Medium

Slide Five (above):  Instant Onboarding Ideas

Do you have any ideas that will enable a user to get up and running quickly?

It’s really hard to move users from being curiously interested to becoming committed users. Enable users to experience maximum value for minimal effort.  Avoid complex signups, forms, data capture wizards, upload requirements, unnecessary this-before-that roadblocks, and pre-use instruction manuals/videos.  Give visitors dead-simple ways to try your product...instantly.

"By enabling anyone to enter a Pinterest or YouTube URL, anyone can instantly start a private or public StackChat."  

Slide Six (above):  From None to Huge

You might be creating a product that will eventually have broad appeal and become a billion dollar business.  However, I would like to hear about the first customer segment you intend to target, and how that segment will lead to related exposure opportunities.

Using round numbers...

“Annually, there are 3.5M brides and grooms like Haley and Jeff, and another 16M bridesmaids and groomsmen; during the wedding process, all these people combined will have 100M conversations with 20M different businesses.”

For any given product or service, there are often multiple segments you could initially target.  Pick an entry point (segment) that is easy to define, easy to reach, and most importantly, one that exposes (through usage) your product to a broader audience.

Slide Seven (above):  User Acquisition

Tell me about some of the ideas you have for reaching and acquiring users.  For example:

• ads and articles in bridal magazines

• search advertising

• a partnership with a company that already reaches brides (e.g.: The Knot)

• blogging and social media

• influencer marketing

• direct selling

• by creating value for a related party (e.g.: event planners as a conduit)

Slide Eight (above):  Business Model

Outside of selling banner ads, do you have any unique ideas for generating revenue?  In the simple example above, regular humans (like Haley) will use StackChat for free, while business users interested in 'stack commerce', routing and queueing controls, and more, will pay $100 per-seat (annual).

Now I get it! 

For your product or service, if you can outline the job-to-be-done, your unique value proposition, a brand concept, some go-to-market and onboarding ideas, combined with a product demo, storyboards, or wireframes, we can have a productive conversation.  I'm never interested in long resumes, slides filled with text, tables, charts, and (initially) projections.  After we get through your product vision, we can talk about plans, strategies, numbers and metrics. 

StackChat Status

I worked on StackChat with Daniel Clarke.  I invested a small amount of capital and created the storyboards; Dan interviewed potential customers; and we both spent a lot of time in coffee shops discussing strategy.  At this point, StackChat is not a fully-baked idea.  For the job-to-be-done, StackChat's value proposition overlaps with Slack's, and 'clustercluck prevention' is not a slogan we can go to market with.  However,  there's a bunch of things here, including Haley, worth recycling.

Product Scaffolding

Similar to construction scaffolding, entrepreneurs can use 'scaffolding' to construct the concept of their venture.

I frequently get into discussions and debates with friends and founders about the viability of new products and services.  Product scaffolding makes it easy for me to rapidly evaluate the opportunity size, branding, and believability (is it possible).

In my experience, if you can’t describe your product or service using simple, harmonious product scaffolding, your venture will struggle.

Product scaffolding is ONE sentence:

• When Haley wants to be transported across town, Haley will use Uber to instantly obtain inexpensive, on-demand transportation.

• When Haley wants to remember a song, Haley will use Shazam to rapidly acquire essential song information.

• When soccer enthusiasts want to play, they will use Rocket Soccer to instantly schedule a convenient, competitive match.

• When artists want to record a music video with their fans, they will use FanStudio to effortlessly schedule a live, professionally orchestrated recording.

Use This Template:  When A wants to B, A will use C to get D.

• A)  a character, actor, persona, or segment  

• B)  the job-to-done by your product or service

• C)  your brand name (actual or under consideration)

• D)  the value proposition you intend to deliver

Erecting Your Scaffolding

1. Choose a segment to target.

2. Nail the job-to-be-done.

3. Settle on a value proposition.

4. Come up with a brand that fits.

1)  Choose a Segment.  You should know, and be willing to love, your customers.  Anything less creates an uphill battle.  When choosing customers to serve, I rely on this simple metaphor:  Don’t back a hip hop artist when all you listen to is rock and roll.  

2)  Nail the Job-To-Done.  The ‘want’ or desire to get a job done causes people to contemplate and/or seek a product, service, or solution.  (See “want” in the sentences above.)  Consumers then HIRE (with their time or money) a product or service to do the job.

The best ways to determine true ‘want’ are to ask and observe.  Set aside biases, preconceived notions, your habits, and your rituals.  Ask: What do you want to do?  Observe:  What are they trying to do?  Dig deep.  Repeatedly ask and observe.  

When someone is hanging a picture on a wall, are they decorating a room, hiding a hole, sharing memories, or showcasing art?  What are they hiring the picture to do?  Ask and observe. Ask and observe. Ask and observe.

Nailing the job-to-be-done is the only way to deliver the right value proposition.  If your observations reveal that people ‘want’ more art in their busy lives, do you ‘want’ to sell empty picture frames?  Learn more...

Avoid Run-On Jobs-To-Be-Done.   For new ventures, I am a huge believer in the “No Ands Rule”.  Avoid the word “and” in your product scaffolding.  Get a foot in the door, a wedge in the market, or a prominent slice of mindshare by picking a SINGLE job-to-be-done.  

Here’s an example of bad, run-on scaffolding (using “ands”): “When artists want to record a music video with their fans, and acquire new fans, and build a simple website, they will use FanStudio to….[to get lost and confused]”

3)  Settle on a Value Proposition.  A value proposition is the reason humans ‘hire’ your offering.  Peter Sandeen has the best definition of ‘value proposition’ on the web:  “A strong value proposition is a believable collection of the most persuasive reasons your target customers should do what you’re hoping they will do.” 

I am going to add: if you can’t deliver it on day one, don’t say it.  For example: you can’t deliver a “global network of passionate fans” to user number ONE.  However, you could pitch (to early adopters), your product’s capacity to simply enable: paid, private showcases, or fee-free, online tipjars, or some other “believable collection of persuasive reasons”.

To sum up: the WANT or desire to get a job done causes people to contemplate and/or seek something; while your value proposition is the reason WHY humans HIRE your offering.

4)  Come Up With a Brand That Fits.  I like adaptable brand names that you can pour meaning into (e.g.: Google, Mint, Twitter, Square), or harmonious brand names that conjure the embodiment of WANT + WHY (the ‘want’ or desire to get a job done + ‘why’ humans will hire your offering), (e.g.: Facebook, Salesforce, Linkedin, Travelocity).  

Adaptable brands make it easy to pivot, while harmonious brands make it easier to communicate value.  If you really think that you have uncovered true ‘want’, and if you know with unflinching certainty that you can deliver a unique value proposition, consider a harmonious brand name.

A final word on brand names:  It’s often hard to secure the .com for harmonious brand names.  However, if you can get the .com (recommended), you probably don’t have to worry about trademark infringement.  Alternatively, secure the best, pure (no hyphens), adaptable .com name that you can imagine.

Also read:  The Haley Pitch Every Founder Should Know

The End Date

In any business, a good manager should be able to tell you the ‘end-date’.  The end-date is a hypothetical day in the future when cash reserves will run dry if expenses continually exceed revenues.  Knowledge of the end-date is a huge (negative) motivator.  When the boss says: "We need to generate X by next Thursday or else...", people respond like soldiers going to battle.  

I am going to argue that bands and projects need end-dates to succeed.  Far too often, as music industry participants, we begin things with no end-date in mind.  We enthusiastically invest our undervalued time, and we keep doing so until the project crumbles, until a bandmate unexpectedly quits, or until the van breaks down five hundred miles from home.  This is no way to run a business.  Pick an end-date on day one.  Print it, hang it on the wall, and let it serve as a motivator for everyone.  If you haven’t reached your goal(s) by the end-date, then end it.

There’s another great reason to pick an end-date.  The end-date should serve as the date when the founders officially acquire their ownership in the band or project.  Think about it: it’s actually silly to allocate ownership to anyone on day one.  Instead, participants should sign simple agreements that stipulate that ownership is acquired on the end-day (e.g.: two years from today).  If someone leaves before the end-day, then a pro rata share is allocated to the missing person (by days and/or depending on the terms of the agreement).

What happens after the end-date?  The end-day is a time to assess if you met, exceeded, or undershot your goals, it’s also a time to evaluate the assets and the liabilities that you all have created.  And if everyone agrees to continue onward, it's a great time to pick another…end-day.

Startup Articles That Standout

Why are software development task estimations regularly off by a factor of 2-3?

Over the years, I have tried to explain to friends that building software is not like building house or baking a cake.  It’s more like surgery.  Sometimes you open up the patient and find the unexpected; what starts out as day surgery can result in months of medical attention.  However, this post on Quora, and the comment by Michael Wolfe is a far better analogy.  There are also some great comments on the same page.  Well worth reading.  

The one cost engineers and product managers don't consider…

Kris Gale, VP of Yammer (acquired my Microsoft) writes about how features drive up unaccounted costs.  

“The work of implementing a feature initially is often a tiny fraction of the work to support that feature over the lifetime of a product…”

You can code a feature in two hours, but the cost of supporting that feature into infinity and beyond needs to be accounted for.  This is another post that reminds to keep it simple stupid.  

Product Strategy Means Saying No

Des Traynor, the CEO of www.intercom.io, makes a powerful case for saying NO to features.   

“Editing a product requires some hard decisions about what to build. You can speculate that any un-built feature could transform your product. But speculation is all it is, nothing more. When you’re afraid to make hard decisions, you fall back on appealing to the unknown, and therefore building everything. You end up with a repository of features, not a product.”

Pitching Hack: It’s Not What You Said, It’s How You Made Them Feel

Tyler Crowley, a man that knows a thing or two about pitching ideas to people, has some great advice on using visual, emotional stories to hold the attention of audiences (investors).  

Do Things that Don't Scale

From Paul Graham.  There are a lot of things founders should do that don’t scale, such as paying extreme attention to the WHOLE experience of being a user, with “product” being just one component of the overall experience.  Lots of great examples and antidotes in this lengthy post.

Narrow ≠ Narrow

It seems to me that the narrower the value proposition is, the harder it is to build a minimally viable product. Not sure if the following holds up everywhere, but try this broad-to-narrow analogy:

• [broad] If you want to provide reliable ground transportation, you could build a locomotive.

• [less broad] If you want to provide high-speed, ground transportation, you need to build a bullet train.

• [narrow] If you want to provide comfortable, high-speed, ground transportation, you need to build a bullet train with leather seats and beds.

• [super narrow] If you want to provide non-stop, nationwide, comfortable, high-speed, ground transportation, you need to build a bullet train with leather seats, beds, and a nuclear reactor.  

A narrow value proposition does not equate to a narrow market opportunity, it's just harder to build.

Dividing Ownership in a Startup

This post contains suggestions on how to effectively divide ownership in a group project - prior to taking on the burden of launching and operating a legal corporation.
 
The tasks within this post may seem like a lot of work.  However the process described below is essential to building a motivated organization...regardless of the legal structure (and legal minds) you employ.
 
If you are working with equals that you know and trust, the group should be able to read this document, negotiate the items on the ownership earn-in spreadsheet, and then construct a signed letter of intent in under three hours. It doesn’t get much easier than this.
 
Fictional scenario:  a group of professionals are about to create and promote a new media website that will attract and entertain a slice of humanity; as visitors come to this website, the business goals will be to convert visitors into fans (subscribers and repeat visitors), and then to eventually sell something that has perceived value to a percentage of the fan base. 
 
Everyone involved desires to protect their investment (time, money, art, etc.) and to preserve their ownership rights until the day arrives when the group decides to turn the project into a real company.  The following is a list of people involved in the (fictional) project and a brief description of the assets that each person proposes to contribute to the project:
 

• The Originator: The Originator has original art (intellectual property) that he or she has been working on (part time) for the last six months. The originator has already invested 500 hours, and she plans to invest 200 additional hours over the next six months.

• The Video Person: The Video Person has a track-record of, and the skills necessary to, produce compelling video footage. The Video Person is willing to invest 200 hours over the next six months.

• The Tech Person: The Tech Person has proven software, website or mobile application development skills. The Tech Person can invest 400 hours over the next six months. However the Tech Person’s personal financial situation requires him to charge a reduced hourly fee that equates to 25% of his normal, billable, hourly rate of $100 per hour.

• The Business Person: The Business Person is proposing to handle daily operating chores, and to develop strategic partnerships that will rapidly grow the fan base and/or increase gross profit margins. The Business Person can invest 500 hours over the next six months.

• The Instant Traffic Person: The Instant Traffic Person is stating that he or she has the capacity to bring almost instantaneous and significant attention (traffic) to the project once it launches.

• The Money Person: The Money Person is proposing to invest $15,000.

 
The Challenge:  The six people involved are bringing assorted value (assets) to the project; each person is willing to invest an allotment of time, traffic or investment capital; one person needs to earn a spot of money (an income) right away; nobody knows for sure how quickly this project will take off; but everyone involved wants to move forward as quickly and as inexpensively as possible. 
 
You need three things to get going quickly and inexpensively.

• The first thing you need is an ownership earn-in spreadsheet. See the accompanying spreadsheet.

• The second thing you need is a binding letter of intent that covers stop-dates, triggers, the ownership earn-in spreadsheet, and a method that dictates how all debatable matters are resolved.

• The third thing you need is an attorney to take a quick look at what you are proposing to cover with this “thin” set of documents.

 
In my experience, dividing ownership equally is mistake. Without fail, things always happen that prevent or enable project participants from contributing more or less resources than they originally pledged.  You want a plastic (cable of expanding and contracting) ownership structure that enables participants to contribute as much or as little as their ever-changing (financial, time, family, health, etc.) situation dictates.  A plastic ownership structure, governed by an ownership earn-in formula, is the best way to align motivation, commitment, value delivery, timing and expectations.
 
Step One - All contributions have to be valuated / appraised...
Everything (time, art, inventions, equipment, website traffic, etc.) that is being contributed to the project has to be translated (valuated) into a uniform monetary unit such a U.S. Dollars; this will enable a math-ready apples-to-apples comparison of all contributions. 
 
Once you have completed the valuation process, copy and update the accompanying ownership earn-in spreadsheet to determine ownership of the project.
 
Here are some suggestions for appraising value:

Art, inventions and intellectual property have to be assigned a value.
Originators (artists, inventors) often over-valuate their creations.  My best advice is to sum up the actual hours invested (in the art, or the invention/idea) over the last year or so, and then multiply the hours by a reasonable hourly rate to arrive at a valuation.  If you have created something that is truly remarkable, increase the value of your creation accordingly.  Note: if you assign too much value to your creation, it will be proportionately difficult to negotiate an ownership agreement with your prospective partners.
 
Labor contributions have to be assigned an hourly rate.
When you are forming a team of equals, one of the easiest points to negotiate is hourly (wage) rate.  If you can agree that you are all equals in the marketplace (in your prospective fields), then assigning everyone the same hourly rate makes this part of the negotiation simple.  However, if a team member works in a field where demand for a certain skill is red hot (example: iPhone app developers), you will probably have to bump up his or her hourly rate to reflect current market rates / market demand; the same logic applies to assigning hourly rates to those that bring significant experience to the table. 
 
You may also have a team member that can contribute labor at a reduced hourly rate, but he or she must also be compensated to justify participating in the project.  The accompanying ownership earn-in spreadsheet accommodates this (reduced compensation / paid out) scenario.
 
Non-cash contributions have to be assigned a cash value.
If someone is pledging a significant non-cash contribution to the project, it’s not unreasonable to offer (additional) ownership in the project in consideration for the contribution.  Non-cash contributions are things like: six months of office space, the use of a vehicle, equipment, or even measurable Internet traffic.  Non-cash contributions should be valued at the cost of substituting the contribution with a market-priced, comparable alternative.
 
If someone is pledging something like “Internet traffic”, “strategic relationships”, or “mass-media mentions”, proceed with caution.  All of the above are valuable.  However they should be (somewhat) measurable (for example: by using Google Analytics or internal sales figures) and accounted for at the end of the project term.  Your goal should be to create an incentive whereby the person supplying these (promotional) contributions is highly motivated to demonstrate (ongoing) measurable results.
 
Investment cash contributions and the risk multiplier.
It’s obvious that cash contributions are easy to quantify - it’s cash!  However within the ownership earn-in spreadsheet, there is the option of multiplying the impact of a cash contribution (a loan or an investment) by a “risk multiplier”.  The risk multiplier is a simple mechanism that you can use to motivate a cash investor.
 
Investment money (any money) is hard to obtain.  There are three criteria that motivate investors: the first is a compelling business plan, the second is a great team, the third is the potential for significant upside.  If you have criteria one and two locked down, the risk multiplier helps to telegraph a significant ownership and upside message to the investor. 
 
Note: if an investor is loaning the project money, versus directly investing in the project, and the investor is charging an annual interest rate on the loan, I would negotiate a risk multiplier that is substantially less (or none at all) than the risk multiplier that I would offer someone that is directly investing (cash for ownership; no loan documents).
 
 
Step Two - Create a binding letter of intent...
Here’s a partial list of items you can use to construct your letter of intent.
 

• Ownership, voting, tax, and profit sharing rights shall be accumulated on a monthly basis and calculated at the end of each month - using the ownership earn-in spreadsheet. The more resources a team member invests on a monthly basis, the more ownership, voting, tax, and profit sharing rights - the team member acquires.

• Unless noted otherwise, intellectual property pledged to the project, and intellectual property created during the term of the project, including URLs used for the project, will be owned according to the ownership acquisition methods outlined in this document.

• All team members shall report their monthly contributions (time, accomplishments, resources) to the entire team at the end of each month.

• All disputes and all debatable matters will be settled by a vote whereby a simple majority (more than 50%) rules; in the event of a tie, a coin toss will resolve any dispute.

• Primary contact, day-to-day management, bookkeeping, and all communications shall be the responsibility of an elected Project Manager.

• At some point (a date or a trigger) initial ownership should be finalized. For example: six months from day one, and/or triggers such as raising a certain amount of investment capital, or acquiring a specified quantity of subscribers.

• Briefly document the methods, incentives and values you are placing on non-cash contributions such as art, inventions, Internet traffic and strategic relationships.

• Bills / liabilities are the responsibility of the project’s owners.

 
 
Step Three - Consider hiring an attorney...
Before you launch your project, consider hiring an attorney to review your letter of intent and your ownership earn-in spreadsheet.   I would direct the attorney accordingly:
 

• The attorney is representing the project team and not any single member of the team.

• The attorney should transcribe your documents into the simplest set of legal documents that he or she can create - given what you have already negotiated with your team.

• The team is not interested in getting bogged down negotiating the particulars of launching and operating a corporation and/or negotiating investment terms at this time.

• All items pertaining to creating a corporation (in the future) will be stipulated by the persons controlling ownership in the project once the initial ownership is finalized.

 
The ownership earn-in spreadsheet is for rapidly launching and for managing ownership in (smaller) projects.