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Setting up ownerships shares of a start-up

3 points by dtobias ↗ HN
Starting a website and looking at ownership options. 3 people involved including 1 developer. The dev. will be working for free but wants an ownership stake. I have been told that this is the common set up for ownership- 30% to the idea guy. 45% to whomever is putting up the money and 25 to the dev? Is that standard? The idea dosent really require much upfront money so we don't really have a "money guy." Ay ideas? Any general guidelines? Thanks!

4 comments

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sharpn
I would flip the 'idea guy' & 'dev guy' percentages at least. An idea without development/execution is worth ~nothing, wheras the development of a good idea is valuable. Find the sucessful company that is closest to what you have in mind & see how they did it. Good luck!
aberman
Agree, but it depends on what you mean by "idea guy." Is this guy going to make sure that the lights stay on? Is he going to market the company, make the sales calls?

If he just came up with the idea, I would give him a few percentage points and say "thanks." If he is going to be the mastermind behind the execution and the driving force of the company, then I think he is tremendously more valuable, and his equity stake should reflect that.

dtobias
Thanks for the input. The idea guy had the idea and has done some basic research, he has no tech background. I am putting together the tech infrastructure, got the dev, did the research etc. Though because the idea guy is a friend.

I agree that the dev needs to feel that he is going to get something out of it and rightfully so.

Thanks for taking the time to give me some help on this!

jacquesm
It is a good idea to set some milestones to be achieved before actually issuing the stock. Not everybody has the long term view and once the stock is issued you can't take it back without a fight.