[Lordarminius]

If he has refused your offer of equity, then your real options are splitting the company or accepting an equity position yourself in exchange for leaving.

I would advice you hire a lawyer to negotiate on your behalf. His/her brief would be to aim for a 50/50 split of assets or 25% equity shareholding as compensation for leaving the company(although your initial ask would of course be higher). You could also ask for outright cash

(These numbers could be different if your founders agreements dictate something else or your contributions to building the company are unequal)

[Lindathefounder]

Wouldn't 25% deter possible investors? I was thinking of asking for 10% and settling on 5% because I want the company to succeed.

[Blackstone4]

In standard terms from what I understand is 4 year vesting so with 50% ownership that's 50% divided by 4 to get to one year of work....comes to 12.5%... put it forward as industry standard

[Lordarminius]

Its not your duty to mummy the company at this stage. You need to look after your own interest. State your claim and let the other side make a counter offer