Yeah, the YC application is merely evidence of a contract rather than a contract itself, but it's pretty smoking gun evidence. Why would you write there is a 50-50 split on your YC application if it wasn't true?
> Yeah, the YC application is merely evidence of a contract rather than a contract itself
Which is less of a distinction than one might think, since a signed contract document is just a very special piece of evidence (which invokes some special legal rules barring certain other evidence) of the existence and terms of a contract. A contract is a thing that exists in law as a result of particular interactions between the parties, anything you can present is, at best, evidence of the contract rather than the contract itself.
What am I missing? This seems not at all complex. The two believed, when they applied, that they'd share fates. They were quite wrong. Like most people, they didn't do all the paperwork to safeguard against later bad-faith claims after they parted ways.
I'm sure that's what happened, and I'm projecting my own paranoia. But it seems like it was kind of an acrimonious break-up, which would prompt some ass-covering.
It says something about GM's due diligence skills (or their desperation to be seen as a player in self-driving cars) that they were even willing to talk to a company in this position.
I'm with tptacek, Allen put in 2 years of sweat equity, was friends with bill gates, teed up the company and then had to take a backseat because of illness. How could cruise Possibly have raised money if half the cap-table was subscribed already. Also, typically there is like a 1 year cliff, so I am not sure how that would even be possible.
