I'm the minority technical co-founder and my co-founder who holds majority control of the equity in the company just informed me that he increased his salary by 3X three months ago. We had agreed to take the same salary since we're both working on it full time and each bring unique skills to the table needed for the business.
After reading the bylaws I'm pretty sure there's nothing I can do legally. Has anyone been in a similar situation? First of all, the lack of notification has damaged our relationship from my side because I feel that the information was deliberately withheld from me as long as possible. Secondly, I cannot see any angle where the salary is appropriate for the stage we are at. Any related experience is appreciated.
One of the key things investors monitor and control is how much people make at the company.
Especially the owners or founders. Investors want their money to go into the company and not into anyone’s pockets.
With outside investment I would assume you will have very specific workflows to increase the owners salaries and that would have to be approved.
Look into that. Also, if you talk to the board and/or investors I’m pretty sure they can help you get this on track without any need for harsh measurements.
People make mistakes and until you figure out the reasoning you should not assume malice.
Once you know malice is involved it doesn’t matter how much harm any “fighting” will cause to the company because at the end of the day, there is no goodwill anymore so things will get worse from there.