On Jul 12, 2012, at 12:25 PM, germx wrote:
> I've already created the core mechanics for a game and have a working prototype. A co-worker of mine is an artist and I want to bring him in to do the art. This could be a long term business relationship of me doing the game design, software development and him doing the art, game design, and business( he also has a MBA ).
>
> I'm curious to know if this sounds like a perfect 50/50 split profit situation or does one side usually get a higher percentage and these situations?
>
> I'm also curious to know what things I should think about when starting this business relationship so that I don't get screwed down the road. Not necessarily by this guy, because I do trust him, but by anybody else if this relationship doesn't pan out.
People often do this as 50/50, because it "seems fair." Nothing wrong with that.
Who's going to pay for marketing? Your app isn't going to sell itself. No, your facebook page and a few tweets doesn't count! Trust me on this.
So maybe you want to go 30/30/40 with 40% going to "the business" of selling your app. Now who decides how that money is spent? Do you form an LLC? Do you just vote/wing-it?
Let's say your app has an initial moderate success, and everyone's happy with the first few paychecks. Btw, who writes those checks? I assume your dev account, so you're paying him, right? How often? Do you pay based on sales reports, or based on what Apple pays you? What if one or the other changes?
Anyway, so your app has a little success early on. Then you want to spend 3 months writing new code. Do you get a bigger cut? How about if you want new art, but there's not much code to integrate it?
Now it's 6 months later, and your app is dribbling in $3/week. (You laugh, but many good apps don't do this well!) Are you still going to send a full accounting report and paycheck every 2 weeks to your artist friend? At what point is it ok for you to say "look, this is just too much hassle, I want to cut you out of the deal?" What if, right after that happens, you release an update and sales really take off?
Business-deals (and contracts in general) are all about "what do we do if... [some odd, unexpected thing goes here]?" The "we'll write an app together and split the rev 50/50" is the easy part.
Luck!
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