Story so far and a bit of a context:
I've been working on the idea for three years. Product launched one year ago. AI consumer app. $120k in net revenue, very high margins. Current MRR ~$10k. Net-Promoter-Score 82/100. Can quite easily bootstrap this to $1M ARR in the next 12 months.
Product featured in major publications. Big VC firms (a16z and others) reached out. Went hardcore, burned out a bit, and almost sold the app for close to $1M at end of last year (Acquire.com record interest in the first 24h). Took a bit of time off and got clarity that I want to take this big.
I've been a solo founder with domain knowledge. Done everything myself except writing the code for which I've had contractors. Paid for everything out of my own pocket. I have a design and marketing background, so I feel comfortable building and selling. Decent network and experience with startups.
What's next?
To take this to the next leve, raise funding and build a team, I need a technical co-founder with the right incentives in place. Found a guy who fits the bill: full-stack developer, young and hungry (24 yrs.), has a bit of previous startup experience, showed a lot of interest (flew from another city to work together for three days), great communication skills, values aligned. We worked together and everything was good.
My idea is 1 year cliff with 4 year vesting period. The first year would pay a small salary, so he can go full-time while not worrying about food/rent.
How would you think about a fair equity split in this case?
This is generic and good decision.
Equity split is kinda subjective but you would know better; ask him too -- what are his thoughts that will be fine for him and something that he won't regret. You took all the risk, so his risk are now drastically reduced but the journey is still starting. Vaguely guestimating, I see something in the 20-30% range.