"How should we split equity — one of us is full-time, one is part-time, and one is putting in the money?" It's one of the most common questions founders ask on Hacker News, and the reason it's so hard is that a single fixed percentage has to capture three very different kinds of contribution that will also change over the coming year. The truth is that a fixed split decided today is almost guaranteed to become unfair — and there's a better way.
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A fixed equity split assumes each cofounder's relative contribution is knowable on day one and stable forever. Neither is true when one person is full-time, another is part-time, and a third is mainly contributing capital. If you lock in percentages now and the part-time cofounder goes full-time in six months — or the full-time one burns out and steps back — the split silently becomes unfair, and renegotiating it is one of the most damaging conversations a founding team can have.
The reason this split is hard is that you're comparing things measured in different units. Time is best valued at a fair market salary rate for the role and scaled by hours actually worked — so a part-time cofounder naturally earns proportionally less without any awkward negotiation. Cash is typically weighted more heavily because it's fully at risk with no salary. And IP or existing assets are valued as a one-off contribution. A fixed percentage forces you to guess the blend up front; a contribution-based model measures it as it happens.
| Contribution | How it's fairly valued | Why a fixed split struggles |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time work | Market salary × hours | Assumes commitment never changes |
| Part-time work | Same rate, fewer hours | Over-rewards low commitment if fixed |
| Cash invested | Amount, often risk-weighted | Hard to equate to sweat up front |
| IP / assets | One-off valued contribution | Guessed, not measured |
Instead of guessing a percentage, dynamic equity earns each cofounder ownership in proportion to what they actually contribute — hours logged at a fair rate, cash weighted for risk, IP valued once. The part-time cofounder simply accrues less than the full-time one, automatically, and if their commitment changes the split adjusts with it. Nobody has to reopen a painful negotiation, because the model already reflects reality at every moment.
The fix for unequal, changing commitment
With dynamic equity, a part-time cofounder earns proportionally to their hours and a cash investor earns for their capital — automatically. When someone's commitment changes, the split changes too, with no renegotiation.
Equafy is built for exactly this scenario. Set a fair rate and multiplier per contribution type, log time and cash as they happen, and every cofounder's share recalculates automatically — so the part-time founder, the full-time founder and the cash investor are each rewarded for what they actually put in. When you're ready to raise, freeze the dynamic split into a fixed, investor-ready cap table in one click.
Avoid locking in a fixed percentage based on today's commitment. Value each person's contribution in comparable terms — time at a market rate scaled by hours, cash weighted for risk — so a part-time cofounder earns proportionally less. A dynamic equity model does this automatically and adjusts if commitment changes.
Treat cash as a contribution type in its own right, usually risk-weighted because it's fully at risk with no salary. In a dynamic model the cash investor earns equity proportional to what they put in, alongside cofounders earning from their time.
With a fixed split you'd have to renegotiate — a fraught conversation. With dynamic equity the split simply starts accruing faster for that cofounder from the moment their hours increase, so it stays fair without any renegotiation. Equafy handles this automatically.
Many teams run a dynamic split through the uncertain early months and freeze it into fixed shares at a fundraise or an agreed milestone. Equafy lets you freeze the dynamic split into an investor-ready cap table in one click when that moment comes.
Equafy splits equity by what each cofounder actually contributes — full-time, part-time or cash — and freezes it to a fixed cap table when you raise.
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