A technical cofounder joining pre-product typically gets 40-50% equity, vesting over four years with a one-year cliff. That number should fall, not rise, the further along the product already is: 15-25% once a live MVP exists, 5-10% once revenue exists. Below 5%, you are hiring, not co-founding — pay a salary or bring in a studio instead.
The question is asked wrong most of the time. Founders search for a single percentage. There isn't one. There is a stage, and the equity follows it.
What is the standard technical cofounder equity split?
For two people starting from an idea with no code, no users, and no revenue, an even or near-even split is the default: 50/50, or 60/40 if one person carries the original idea and the non-technical work of fundraising and sales. We have seen founders try to underpay this stage — offering 15-20% for "the technical side" while a working product doesn't exist yet — and lose the candidate every time. At this stage, the technical cofounder is not filling a role. They are taking the same risk you are.
The number moves once a product exists. Every week of runway or user data you already have is negotiating room you're giving up later, not now.
Does equity depend on when the technical cofounder joins?
Yes, and it should move down as the product matures:
| Stage when they join | Typical equity range | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Idea only, no code | 40-50% | Equal risk, equal sweat equity, nothing de-risked yet |
| Working prototype, no users | 25-40% | Some validation exists; they're still building the core system |
| Live MVP, no revenue | 15-25% | The hardest technical risk is retired; they're scaling and hardening, not inventing |
| Post-revenue, hiring to scale | 5-10% plus salary | You're recruiting a senior engineer with founder title, not a co-founder taking your risk |
| Feature or maintenance hire | 0-2% options, salary-led | This is a hire. Call it one. |
A useful gut check: if you'd feel comfortable calling this person "employee #1" instead of "cofounder," the equity number should look like a senior hire's, not a cofounder's — options on top of salary, not a double-digit equity grant.
What vesting schedule protects both sides?
Four years, monthly after a one-year cliff. This is close to universal — Y Combinator's standard advice, most startup lawyers' default template, and what nearly every cap-table tool ships as the preset. The cliff means nobody owns anything until they've been in the seat for a full year; the monthly vest after that means equity accrues with actual work, not a single grant date.
Skip the cliff and you're one bad six-month hire away from a permanent 20% stakeholder who did two months of real work. We write this into every advisory or cofounder-style engagement we've been part of, without exception.
When should you pay salary instead of equity?
When the work is defined, not existential. A technical cofounder is taking the company's risk in exchange for the company's upside — they're deciding what gets built, not just building what's decided. If you already know exactly what you need built and by when, that's a job description, not a cofounder search. Pay a competitive salary, keep the equity pool for the people making the calls, and consider a studio for the build itself if you don't want to hire in-house yet.
Studios and freelancers cost cash, not equity, and hand off cleanly when the engagement ends. A cofounder never hands off — they're on the cap table permanently. Match the instrument to what you're actually buying.
What if you can't afford a technical cofounder's equity ask?
Then the honest options are: lower your ask by moving further along before you recruit one (a validated prototype attracts a smaller equity number than a slide deck), pay cash instead and keep equity out of it, or accept that the candidate you can afford at that equity level is not the one you actually want building your architecture for the next five years.
We have watched founders talk themselves into a 5% offer for a full-time technical cofounder because that's what the budget allowed. The candidates who accept 5% for a pre-product idea are self-selecting — usually not for reasons that help you.
The question worth asking before you offer a number
Ask yourself first: "If this person built nothing else and just showed up for four years, would the equity I'm offering still feel fair for the risk they took on day one?"
If the honest answer is no, the number is wrong — in one direction or the other. Get the stage right, get the vesting right, and the percentage mostly answers itself.
Written 2026-08-04 by Naman Barkiya.