Company Formation

Research

OCV actively conducts research on open source software projects and recruits founders to join our companies. As a general screening criteria, we would only consider projects with a minimum of 20 monthly MR/PRs or 5,000 stars on GitHub. See detailed research process at:

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Research processes

Founder Outreach

[Write-up in process] - Link to prospective founder pages.

Internal Approvals / Conflict Checks

New company approval processes consist of two parts:

1. GP Approval

OCV team prepares project summary and intended business plan (in the internal research doc) for GP review.

Founder (CTO) compensation sign off proposal to the GP should include:

Founder Name (with LinkedIn profile)

Title

Cash Compensation (in USD equivalent; provide justification)

Equity (following framework from Founder Shares Guidelines and provide support around experience level)

Options Pool Size (and intended allocation reserves)

Start Date / Timeframe (if known)

Any additional offer details

2. GitLab Conflict Check

[Write-up in process]

Offers & Acceptance

After internal approval, OCV team prepares a verbal offer (via email) to outline the following understanding:

Company Name (typically TBD; ideal company name is the same as the open source project name, pending name availability research)

Entity Structure: C-Corp or PBC

Title

Annual Compensation in local currency (and ~USD equivalent)

Equity: % and vesting details

Confirm whether founder would like to purchase common shares or receive options

OCV Funding detail

Options Pool

Target Start Date

Confirm purchase of existing domain name(s) for USD 1 (if applicable).

In this email, we also request founder’s mailing address, phone number, date of birth (for certain registration and banking system setup requirements).

Once a founder provides verbal acceptance of our offer, follow the process outlined below to draft and send out an indicative offer letter via DocuSign:

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Founder Offer Letter

Incorporation Process

OCV moves to company formation process below after signed founder offer letter is received. Steps 1 and 2 may be discussed as part of the verbal acceptance process.

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Incorporation Process Overview

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Step 1: Choose the company name

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Step 2: Choose a legal entity structure

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Step 3: File incorporation paperwork

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Step 4: Issue equity to founders and advisors

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Step 5: Establish the company’s options pool