Ask HN: How much equity should I be getting?

The way I understand it, four of you (one guy in the US and three guys in another country) got together and built a startup from scratch. I further assume that there were no discussions on equity split at any time.

Now when a new guy comes in, you are told for the first time that you have only 5% equity in the company.

I would suggest that before you do any further work in this startup, have a call with your US partner and speak to him about this - get everything clarified. If he does not speak to you directly about this, then you need to be very concerned.

It is very hard for HN to tell you how equity should be split, as no one here knows what each of you bring to the table. Typically, equity discussions should be carried out right before you start a partnership, so I urge you to have this discussion with him now.

Is anyone getting paid? Did anyone put in money?

At this point, you should just be figuring out the founder split (not saving some). You will dilute evenly when you take investment and start an employee pool.

Can you give some additional context about your roles? Right now you make it sound like you and 2 others did all of the development work but are only getting 5% equity (which is IMO too low). Has your partner in the US found clients/customers/funding?

A general rule I stick to is that the person who gets a salary gets less than 2 digits equity early stage. Same applies for founders who work 40 hours a week and so on.

How important is everyone to the success of the startup? If you have 5%, you should be increasing the valuation of the company by 6%. 26% share should increase valuation by 36%. 36% share increases it by 57%.

However, this assumes it's unpaid. The ones getting salary need to increase valuation by far more.

I don't know the credentials, but if the two larger portion guys play a big role in valuation, it should be fine. E.g. good degrees, previous experience with startups, investments, rare skills.

Please try out the co-founder equity calculator at http://foundrs.com

I can't stress enough the need to put in place vesting.

If you think it's fair, then it's fair. What else could "fair" mean?

If you don't think it's fair, then it isn't for the same reason. What I think isn't really part of the equation.

Good luck.

If your getting paid equity is just icing on the cake. investors probable aren't going to like all those shares floating around anyway.