Ownership Dynamics within Founder Teams: The Role of External Financing

This paper examines how founders within start-up teams dynamically re-adjust their relative ownership stakes. It leverages a unique dataset from British Columbia, Canada, which contains detailed information on founder ownership over time. Two trade-offs between efficiency and fairness are identified, one at the time of founding, the other as the venture develops. Teams with a preference for fairness at the start, as witnessed by an equal division of founder shares, also exhibit a dynamic preference for fairness, as witnessed by a reluctance to change ownership over time. Relative founder stakes are more likely to change when a company raises investments. Larger rounds, and lower valuations are associated with bigger changes in relative founder stakes.