Nothing in writing?
You just got screwed.
You just got screwed.
Since the other individual, a friend, is full time; and goofy is still working elsewhere part time, it might make sense to get an agreement to gradually escalate goofy's profit sharing in recognition of what has already been accomplished. (Yes, we all know that this is counter to PG's recommendations on startups.) This will allow the founder to live successfully and make everyone eager to grow the company in the short term, and, as profits increase, then the developer can dedicate more time to the company and get more in return ... possibly abandoning the part time job eventually.
But this is basically the plan. Equity doesn't really mean anything unless the business sells, but when the business gets to the point where it can support founders drawing decent salaries then that'll be happening. He knows what I make now and what it would take to shift my focus and it's all within reason.
So put things down on paper as others say. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain and do not feel that you partner will not like that.
Good Luck.
if you are the main technical person who has built the product, you should have at least 20% of the equity, if not split 50/50 with your co-founder (that would be fair). if one of you put more money or time into it, the numbers can be adjusted appropriately.
the best construct for dealing with equity also happens to be vesting. you don't need to "grow" your share as time goes on, it just naturally "grows" the longer you stay, but you've agreed upon the total amount from the beginning and it's committed to you.
i've gone into business with friends several times. it's not that you can't pull it off (i have) or that you don't get into disagreements about compensation/equity (we have) -- it's just not worth the potential strain on the relationship to leave it an open question, as opposed to agreeing early on.
I renegotiated more equity with the last round of work.
I talked to him tonight and we're going to get the paperwork updated and get everything squared away now that things are picking up. He also got sold a key man policy, so there's some paperwork there that we have to do.