Make sure your partner is able to take care of themselves financially.&nbsp;Put them on a vesting schedule in case your judgment was wrong. If you aren’t able to attract partners, then you have to look at all these issues for yourself.

#3: How long will they stick around?

Equity often dictates who makes the decisions within your company. Decide who’s in charge first, and then develop contracts that make it clear who is responsible for what aspects of the business.&nbsp;You can easily justify a higher equity stake if you are also responsible, as CEO, for the difficult work of growing your company.&nbsp;

Contracts: Nicole Munoz, CEO Start Ranking Now

You'll want to make sure the person you’re looking to partner with is able to stay focused and on track for your project.Some people feel obligated to say yes when you offer them a partnership, but they don’t really want to do it.

#2: Are their priorities in order?

Ensure that your co-founder is capable of providing long-term value to the company.You should want to work alongside a co-founder in the same situation as you, in terms of experience and commitment. Meaning, you both will follow the same learning curve and will be on the same page as you enter each new stage of your company.

#4: What role will they play in the long term?

These trusted tools objectively assess your industry, business, and co-founders, to calculate equity splits for you:&nbsp;<ul><li>Slicing Pie&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Gust: Co-founder Equity Split&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>eShares&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Founder: Co-Founder Equity Calculator&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>

Tools to use for objectively calculating equity splits:

Splitting equity equally is a controversial subject.&nbsp;Ultimately, there is no right or wrong decision, but you should fully understand both sides of the argument to make the best choice for yourself. Check the following ideas to understand both sides:

Should You Split 50/50?

The right way to think about equity is to think about a startup as a gamble.&nbsp;When participants contribute to a startup and are not paid for their contributions they are essentially betting on the future of the company.&nbsp;The value of each person’s bet is always equal to the unpaid fair market value of his or her contribution. A person’s share of the equity should be based on that person’s share of the bets.

NO: Mike Moyer, Investor and Entrepreneur

These are the people you are going to war with. These are the people who will help you decide the most important questions in your company. Finally, these are the people you will celebrate with when you succeed.Equal or close to equal equity splits among founding teams should become standard. If you aren’t willing to give your partner an equal share, then perhaps you are choosing the wrong partner

YES: Michael Seibel, CEO of Y Combinator

If you work hard good things happen. You should just try to be as fair as possible for the stage of the company you’re at, and the work people have put in before and after, and treat your employees well.&nbsp;Be generous because those are the people who are gonna be with you until 4 am.&nbsp;

BE FAIR: Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram

Vesting, in which each founder has to earn his or her equity stake by remaining involved in the startup or by achieving pre-defined milestones, is one way to achieve the dynamic approach.Setting up an agreement up front that outlines negative scenarios that might occur in the future, with corresponding actions to help avoid them, could help founders avoid headaches and increase startups’ chances of success.

Founder Vesting:  Robin Chase, CEO Zipcar

Do you have an established relationship and complement your co-founder(s)? If so, you’re off to a great start. Being able to get along is only one piece of the pie. There are a few more pieces you’d need to get together as well. To knoow more, answer the next four questions in the following ideas:

Questions to Ask Before Splitting Equity

If they don’t have a resume, you’ll want to vet them by interviewing others who have worked with them.&nbsp;If they don’t have a reputation, you’re going to want to do your own homework. Give them an unrelated project to work on, one that you can get vetted.

#1: Are they able to deliver quality work?

Splitting equity is difficult if you haven’t done it before. The tricky part being, there’s no right or wrong way to divide equity. Some startups split equity equally, others wait to get to know each…

BE FAIR: Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram

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