The Founder's Royalty
The deal, and the document behind it
One question decides whether pitching here is worth your time: is the 25% a promise or a vibe? Fair question. Here is the honest structure, and below it, the exact agreement you would sign.
What is binding, and when
- Pitching: free, public, and not a contract.
- While your idea is one of many on a public board, no contract exists between us, and we say that here instead of burying it in the terms. What you get at this stage: an honest public read, the AI's verdict, and a shot at selection.
- Selection: where it turns real.
- If your pitch is selected, the deal stops being words on a website. Before the build starts, you and Francesco Dettori sign the agreement below: two named people, one signed document. 25% of net revenue for as long as the site earns, a fixed-price buyout, 25% of any sale.
- Revenue: counted from the first euro.
- Your share accrues from the site's first euro of net revenue, posted publicly every month.
- Payout: quarterly.
- Paid once your accrued balance clears 25 euros, and once the registration step below is done. Small balances roll over and are never lost.
Who you are dealing with
LLM Derby is run by Francesco Dettori, an individual in France who works in public research, with Claude Opus doing the building. There is no company behind it yet, on purpose: registering a business in France before any revenue exists creates tax obligations that serve no one. French law requires registration before business money can be received or paid out, so the agreement handles it the only honest way there is. Your share accrues from the first euro. Francesco must register within 90 days of the first month of real revenue, before any payout. If he misses that deadline, the agreement transfers the site to you. If his research position ever legally blocks him from running the site, same outcome: it is offered to you, free and whole. No ending of this experiment erases your share: if the site is sold you get 25% of the sale, and if it is abandoned you get the site.
Numbers you cannot be lied to about
Every site's revenue and costs are public, monthly, zero-euro rows included. The cost list that reduces your share is closed: domain, hosting, APIs and data, payment fees. Nothing else, ever, without your written agreement. Your time is never billed, the AI's costs are never billed, marketing is never billed. And once you have a signed deal, you can demand the raw statements behind your site's numbers, up to four times a year, answered within 14 days.
The agreement, in full
This is the actual template, not a summary. Bracketed parts are filled in at selection. The clauses marked with lawyer notes get professional review before the first agreement is ever signed; the rest is deliberately simple enough to need none.
Revenue Share Agreement (the Founder's Royalty)
Francesco Dettori, an individual residing in France ("Francesco"), who runs the LLM Derby experiment at llmderby.com. Francesco does not yet have a registered business. Clause 6 explains exactly what that means for payments.
and
[Full legal name], residing in [country] ("you"). You must be 18 or older to sign.
Dated [date]. This is a binding agreement between two people, written in plain English on purpose. Plain wording still binds: every "will" in here is a commitment.
1. What this covers
Your pitch "[pitch title]" ([link to the public pitch]) was selected on [date]. LLM Derby will build and run a website from it (the "Site", at [domain, filled in once live]). This document is the deal announced at llmderby.com/deal, applied to you and this Site.
2. Who owns what
Francesco owns the Site: the domain, code, content, accounts, and data. You license your pitch to him for this build. The license is non-exclusive: pitching here never signs your idea away, and you stay free to use it anywhere else.
Lawyer note: if a pitch ever contains more than an idea, for example designs, text, code, or a brand the pitcher created, French law has formal requirements for licensing those, and this clause needs review for that case before signing.
3. Your 25%
You earn 25% of the Site's net revenue, for as long as the Site earns any, starting from its first euro.
"Net revenue" for a month means money actually received that month from the Site (ads, affiliate payouts, sales, licensing of the Site's data) minus that month's direct costs from the closed list below.
The closed cost list: the Site's domain fees, its share of hosting, third-party APIs or data subscriptions it uses, and payment-processor fees. Nothing else ever counts as a cost without your written agreement. Francesco's time, the AI's costs, and marketing never reduce your share.
Revenue counts when the money arrives, because ad and affiliate networks pay 30 to 90 days late. If a month's costs exceed its revenue, the difference carries into the next month. You never owe anything.
4. When you get paid
Your share accrues monthly and is paid quarterly, within 30 days of each quarter's end, once two things are true: your accrued balance is at least 25 euros (smaller balances roll over and are never lost), and the registration in clause 6 is done.
Payments are in euros, by SEPA transfer or PayPal, your choice. Standard fees are covered; the cost of any unusual payment route comes out of the payment.
5. Numbers you can check
The Site's revenue and costs are posted publicly every month on llmderby.com. On request, up to four times a year, Francesco will show you the raw source behind your Site's numbers within 14 days: read access or unredacted statements from the payment processors, ad networks, and analytics for the Site. If you dispute a figure, it is rechecked against the raw source and any correction is posted publicly.
6. The registration reality (read this clause)
France requires Francesco to register a business before he can lawfully receive business revenue and pay you. He has deliberately not registered yet, because registering with zero revenue creates tax obligations that serve no one.
So: within 90 days of the Site's first month of positive net revenue, Francesco will register (at minimum as a micro-entrepreneur) and, because he works in public research, request any authorization his employer requires for an outside activity. Your share accrues from the first euro either way: registration gates the payout, never the accrual.
If the 90 days pass without registration, or if registration or authorization is refused so that he cannot lawfully operate the Site, clause 10 applies and the Site is offered to you.
Lawyer note: whether Francesco's specific research contract permits this outside activity (cumul d'activités) must be checked against that contract before this agreement is first signed.
7. Buyout: you can take the whole thing
Any time after the Site has six full calendar months of tracked revenue, you may buy it outright. Price: three times the last 12 months' net revenue; if fewer than 12 months exist, the tracked months are annualized. The formula is fixed here so the price is never a negotiation and Francesco is never the one saying no.
At closing you receive the domain, code, content, and transferable accounts; your accrued unpaid share is deducted from the price; and this agreement ends with the Site 100% yours.
Lawyer note: transferring any user data must be done lawfully under GDPR and needs professional review at the time of transfer.
8. If the Site is sold to someone else
You get 25% of the sale price, of the price itself before any costs, paid within 30 days of Francesco receiving it. Before any sale you get first refusal: 14 days to match the offer yourself.
Any transfer of the Site that is not a sale carries this agreement with it: whoever takes the Site over inherits the duty to pay your 25%. The share cannot be dodged by moving the Site.
9. Taxes
Each of us handles our own taxes. Your share is your income, declared where you live. Francesco provides a yearly statement of everything paid to you.
Accountant note: cross-border payments can trigger withholding-tax duties in France depending on your country. This must be checked with an accountant before the first payment, and this clause may need a short amendment to reflect the answer.
10. If it ends
This is an experiment and it can end. The deal is built so that no ending erases your share.
a. If Francesco stops running the Site, cannot lawfully continue under clause 6, or shuts the experiment down, the Site is offered to you first: free and whole (domain, code, content), you covering only registrar transfer fees. You have 30 days to accept.
b. If you decline, the Site may be sold (clause 8 applies) or shut down. Anything accrued remains owed and is paid once it can lawfully be paid.
c. If Francesco dies or is incapacitated, this agreement binds his estate.
Lawyer note: how this clause interacts with French succession law needs review.
11. Changes and the boring rest
Changes to this agreement count only in writing, agreed by both of us. The public pages of llmderby.com can change; this document, once signed, does not change with them. If one clause turns out invalid, the rest stands. French law governs, without prejudice to mandatory protections of your country of residence. If we disagree, we talk first, in writing, for 30 days, before anything else.
Lawyer note: this dispute and governing-law wording is the minimum and should be professionally reviewed.
Signed
Francesco Dettori, [place, date]
[Name], [place, date]
Why this page exists: another AI read this site cold and said it would not pitch a valuable idea here, because the homepage asserted a deal while the terms called it non-binding. It was right. This page, and the agreement above, are the fix. Skeptics improve this place: if you find the next gap, say so.