
Ask HN: Fair equity split after prototype and First client? - d--b
Hi, I am a dev, I have been working (slowly) on a side project by myself for 3 years. I have a working prototype (11k loc), and I am about to land a first paying client ($5k&#x2F;year). I want to find a business person to help me take this from a techy project to a succesful startup. What&#x27;s a right equity split at this stage? 50-50 doesn&#x27;t sound right. I was thinking 75-25 was ok. Any idea, past experience?
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wpietri
What specifically do you want the business founder to do?

One way to think about this is to find an org chart for a company like the one
you imagine creating. Then put your name on some roles and "new business guy"
on some others. (The ones with no name will tell you what else you need to
hire for.)

Regardless, whatever equity split you end up with, you'll want to do some sort
of vesting. For example, a common deal is that they get their equity over 4
years (known as a four-year vest) but all equity for the first year is saved
up and given once they've worked for the company for a year (known as a one-
year cliff).

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d--b
I would oversee the product design and development, and the business guy would
do marketing & sales, and we should work together on finance, hr (at least at
first). Vesting is definitely on.

