Is being offered 23% of a company an insult as a partner in a start up? I am responsible for building and designing the entire web app, coding the Frontend, backend, and digitizing all requirements for our proof of concept. My partner found me on LinkedIn. Its his idea, he will be running business functions, marketing, client onboarding, and he has a few real clients to do a trial run with. We’ve been working together for two months in a trial period and now we want to write up contract. How do I value myself?! ……This is my first start up !
If you have to ask, the answer is probably yes.
This is a terrible deal! An idea is not worth 77%. Please please consider this. In the beginning you will be building the app and doing most of the work at least initially, while he will be basically just sitting there and telling you what to code. If this startup fails, he looses nothing, while you loose the time you wasted building it.
Do not take it. Technical cofounder are hard to find and are very very valuable. It should be at least 50%.