Score each founder across time, capital, execution, expertise, network and risk. Compare the weighted recommendation with an equal split before documenting ownership.
Founder ownership influences control, motivation, fundraising and long-term alignment. A useful discussion considers expected time commitment, capital at risk, execution responsibility, specialist expertise, commercial access and personal opportunity cost. Vesting protects the company when a founder leaves before earning the full allocation.
Give meaningful weight to who will build, sell and operate the company over time.
Recognise money invested, salary sacrificed, guarantees and other founder-level risk.
Consider domain knowledge, technology, customer access, reputation and strategic relationships.
Connect equity to continued contribution through vesting, cliffs and leaver provisions.
Equal ownership can work when contributions, risk, responsibility and commitment are genuinely similar. Otherwise, a documented weighted split may be more durable.
Under a one-year cliff, a founder normally earns no vested shares until completing the first twelve months. The first tranche then vests, followed by periodic vesting.
It is useful to reserve a realistic employee pool early so founders understand their expected ownership on a fully diluted basis.
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