Co-Founder Equity Split Tool
The Fair Way to Divide Ownership

Each dimension carries a different weight because not all contributions are equal:

1. Idea & Vision (5%). The original concept. Important but overvalued -- ideas are cheap, execution is everything.

2. Execution Risk / Time (25%). Who is going all-in? Full-time commitment with no salary is a 10. Part-time weekends is a 3.

3. Capital Invested (12%). Financial skin in the game. Relative to the total capital needs of the venture.

4. Domain Expertise (13%). Deep industry knowledge, customer relationships, and understanding of the problem space.

5. Technical Ability (15%). Can they build the product? Architecture, coding, system design.

6. Business & Sales (13%). Can they sell, raise money, close partnerships, and build go-to-market?

7. Network & Connections (7%). Valuable relationships with potential customers, investors, advisors, or industry leaders.

8. Opportunity Cost (10%). What are they giving up? A $300K/year job is more sacrifice than a $50K/year job.

Every investor, every accelerator, every venture studio will require vesting. It protects everyone -- including you. The standard terms:

4-year vesting period. Equity is earned over 4 years of continued contribution.

1-year cliff. No equity vests for the first 12 months. At month 12, 25% vests at once. This prevents someone from joining, contributing for 2 months, and walking away with a large equity stake.

Monthly vesting after cliff. After the 1-year cliff, equity vests monthly (1/48th per month) over the remaining 36 months.

Acceleration clauses. Consider single-trigger or double-trigger acceleration on acquisition. Single-trigger: all equity vests if the company is acquired. Double-trigger: equity accelerates only if the company is acquired AND the founder is terminated.

Put everything in writing. A handshake agreement about equity is worthless. Get a lawyer -- it costs $1,000-$3,000 and can save your company.