(this post is a feed post from my comments on reddit)
r/Entrepreneur
Nope, 1/3 is reasonable. you might have a little ‘bonus’ to the ‘lead’ founder, but 50% 25% 25% doesn’t make sense this early.
if the issue is about salary, because he wants to live, then thats separate to ownership.
currently theres no revenues or even a business. not until a shippable product has been released.
if business founder is already playing hardball, thats reflective of the future relationship you will have with them, i imagine if you cut him out fully, 0%, then he will try and open a competing business.
Charisma is easy to find. experience and knowledge isn’t and track record is really what matters.
you should also peg the equity vesting to target – so in this scenario i might say something like –
until product is launched we all have 1/3 equity
once the product is launched, and released and you manage to hit <insert impossible target> number is sales then we will transfer 5% each to you.
if the target isn’t hit, then its still a 1/3 spit until its it.
in other words, if he wants the lion share of the equity, he needs to work for it.
tech founders are harder to find and replace, thats just simple fact r/startups is full of ppl begging to find CTOs.
Cofounder wants more equity after successful hackaton and incubator talks. Fair?
byu/TyrannosaurusChrist inEntrepreneur