
Ask HN: How do you split ownership with a co-founder? - anotherwebdev
Hello HN, a friend and I are starting a startup and we don&#x27;t know how to split ownership. What role do coming up with the idea, technical skills and marketing skills play?<p>If one of us does just the marketing, how much ownership should he get?
======
mtmail
Default is 50:50 because you will be working together for years in good and
bad times. I'd see it only changing when one person already put it money (more
than the other can afford), there's an existing working MVP by one person or
extensive market research (almost validating the business idea) by one person
that can't be easily replicated. With a tech product it's possible the tech
person feels he's putting in more hours. But the business won't work long-term
if the second person isn't there and ready to do all the small (and big)
distracting stuff, e.g. opening bank accounts, filing taxes, travel, writing
documentation.

One advice I have is to start with a simple document even before
incorporating. It should list which ownership you agreed on and that
everything you build and create (e.g. a logo) is owned equally by both (not
the person who e.g. paid the logo designer). Ideally it also has a clause what
happens when one person wants to quit (or simply stops working) because with
50:50 you have a stalemate where one person wouldn't be allowed to just take
everything created and continue.

