If you're not willing to offer a potential co-founder equal equity, you should reconsider if that person is the right fit for your team.

If you don't establish vesting for co-founders, a fallout can lead to dead weight on your equity table, making it hard to attract investors.

If one co-founder has been working on the idea longer, it may be reasonable to adjust the equity split, but avoid short-term optimization that could harm long-term motivation.

I advise being generous with co-founder equity to motivate for the long term and to protect oneself in the process. Performance-based equity is a bad idea because it's difficult to set clear goals at the beginning of a tech startup, and those goals often change as the company pivots.

As a CEO, you should aim for your co-founders' equity stakes to inspire them to work passionately, rather than having to motivate them daily.

Being more generous with equity for co-founders is beneficial, as it fosters long-term motivation to stay committed to the startup, especially during challenging times.

Be generous with co-founder equity to motivate your founding team during the challenging early years of a startup.

You should be generous with equity to founders and early employees to foster a sense of ownership and commitment.

The first four to six years of a tech startup are critical for value creation, and even if one founder stays longer, it's important to share equity generously with co-founders who contributed to the startup's early success.