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 !
The market rate for engineering skills is far greater than marketing or biz dev for similar career stages. If anything, OP has more leverage there.
However, I don’t recommend considering skills in cofounder equity negotiation - it’s unhealthy and pits cofounders against each other. Both cofounders should trust the other can carry their weight.
Sometimes proven pedigree/experience is relevant (i.e. a former exec at big company or a major accomplishment) but only if it’s very concrete.
Not really at the senior exec / founder level unless it’s a highly technical solution that requires very specific skills. We’re not comparing a BDR with a junior dev here. From the OP, it sounds like the partner is more akin to a CEO and the OP is more akin to a CTO, but I don’t have all the info on the specific situation and there is a lot of nuance. If OP joined the company post revenue, 23% would be completely out of the question.