How should equity be split among founders with part-time vs full-time roles?

[SavannahIR]

I’m trying to figure out the best way to split equity with my two co-founders, and I’m stuck on how to account for the fact that one of us is working part-time for the first year while the other two are full-time. We all came up with the idea together, but the time commitment is so different.

[MatthewLD]

We did a three-way equity split with one founder working part time for year one. We started with 1/3 each but put in a four-year vesting with a one-year cliff, and the part-timer had a smaller initial slice that would catch up if they hit milestones and hours. It at least kept things honest as we ramped.

[VictoriaR]

Maybe the bigger issue isn't hours but alignment of milestones and risk. I found that with a part-timer, expectations can drift; we almost ended up arguing about who owned what when we hit a slow month.

[Nicholas_S]

We tried to track hours for a couple of months and adjust, but it felt arbitrary; we debated 20 vs 30 hours and ended up delaying a funding round while we argued.

[Scarlett_R]

I keep thinking about whether it's the real problem; maybe the problem is how we talk about ownership. A quarterly check-in and some role clarity might help, but I keep dragging my feet.