50/50 Equity Split Among Co-founders
It’s never a good idea. We hosted a Founder Institute event tonight and Dave Parker said something like “If you go 50/50 with your cofounder, you’ve already failed as a CEO. You can’t even make the first tough decision right”. I totally agree — there’s a ton of decisions that a CEO has to make and it’s no where close to being the same.
Dan Shapiro once said “50/50 isn’t a business decision, it’s a compromise”.
What are your thoughts on this?!
Here’s another blog post that I wrote: How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employee
Jeff Shuey
50-50 does not work. Someone needs to make the hard choices. Also, if the company is planning on growing and offering a co-ownership plan there should be some equity set aside for future growth plans.
Peter Chee
Hi Jeff. Totally agree. I also think that the co-owners should also vest. Should one founder quit or bail that person should not reap the upside of the founder that sticks it out and makes the company become successful. Thanks for your comment!