[lmartel]

My favorite solution to the "I started n months before my cofounders" problem is to write an IOU from the company to the person for the work they've already done at some significant but less-than-1 fraction of their typical monthly rate, say 50% or 70%.

This allows the founding team to acknowledge the extra work without creating an uneven equity split.

[tptacek]

Yuck, what a mess. My monthly rate is absurdly high, because for the last 10 years I've chosen to work primarily for companies that will get a lot of value out of working with me. The fact that I've done security work for big financial firms doesn't mean my work is that valuable to the startup relative to what all the other founders are getting, but my resume anchors my rate there.

If you're finding it important to draw these kinds of lines between founding team members, that's a sign that you might not have the right founding team members. A founding team that "clicks" and works together is incredibly valuable, probably far more valuable than any year's worth of billing you've ever done. Don't mess it up with stuff like this; it's just not worth it.

Man, I am even more procrastinatey than normal today.