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Although I came up with the idea and created the initial site, I'm getting some feedback from someone about my website's strategy, implementation, and business idea. He claims not to want the financial side of it, but I'm afraid if my site takes off, he will try to claim that he is owed something (I've heard of this happening before).

What kind of easy legal document can I have him sign to put this in writing? Would an email confirming it be enough?

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3 Answers

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Although IANAL (I am not a lawyer), my limited experience is that unless he brings real lawyers into the mix (and maybe even then), any kind of proof of an agreement - even an informal or verbal one - that input is being provided without any expectation of compensation will likely be respected at least in the US.

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If I understand this correctly, you're bringing on someone to do the business side or an advisor for your site? If that's true, you want to have an entity (Corp or LLC) with an operating agreement stating exactly what is expected of you. If this is signed by both of you, you should have no issues with this. Another step you can take is an "invention assignment agreement" which you can have him sign to declare any ideas / IP he comes up with belong to the company. Also, don't just give stock, have vesting stock that he'll gain ownership over time / goals. You can have his shares vest over a period of time and even in conjunction with defined goals for the company.

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 Well, this is far more limited than "bringing on" someone. At some point I could possibly move to something like that, but his involvement is more as a partial/temporary advisor, or perhaps even more limited than that. – travis-146 Nov 14 at 20:38
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well you have two options, you can either look for a NDS (non disclosure statement) and get the new person to sign that as evidence and as a contract or you can see a patent attorney about filing for a patent.

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