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Technical Cofounder's Pie

A friend of mine has a startup idea, and has asked me to be the technology partner. He is investing 50k USD into the venture. The business idea is his and execution will be done by him as well. Both of us have day jobs which we will keep and plan to spend about 20 hrs a week.

The question is what will be an appropriate equity that I should ask?

( 3 comments | on HN )
Re:Technical Cofounder's Pie by useflyer on Tuesday August 30, 2011 @10:13AM (#2941501)
Worry about the money second. As the technical co-founder you'll be contributing half of your time to the venture.

Ideas are worth absolutely nothing, try selling one. Don't worry that it's his idea, the idea SHOULD and WILL evolve as you develop it, and the idea will then be both of yours.

Money obviously has value, but at this stage of the venture, it's too early to size it. He should loan the money to the company in the form of a convertible note (giving him a nice return on his money) and valuation will come down the road when there's more transparency. You should each split 50/50 the equity, with him holding the debt. Anything less would be unfair to YOU.

Let the equity vest based on hours worked; that way, if one of you goes from 20 to 60 hours, it's much easier to figure out how that works ahead of time.

Re:Technical Cofounder's Pie by denishennessy on Tuesday August 30, 2011 @10:12AM (#2941498)
Ask yourself how much time you'll need to invest (up to when it becomes self-sustaining). Multiply that be a reasonable hourly rate. Compare that the the $$$ + time the other founder is investing.
Re:Technical Cofounder's Pie by paul_draper on Wednesday August 31, 2011 @08:32AM (#2945245)
Thanks for the comments.