[geoffw8]

wyvern - I agree.

I have to say, as someone who is massively new to this - this is no right or wrong. There's no harm in asking the question, if you raise your concerns and walk away with any additional % - excellent. But the thing you don't want to do is alienate the others, so be sure of your approach before you voice concerns.

Nobody here will ever be able to understand the effort/risk you have all put in comparably apart from yourself, so the only advice I'd give is go for what you can get, nicely.

[wyvern]

My plan is to wait until we're ready to formally incorporate before I raise the issue, because I'll have a better sense of what the numbers mean. I'm sure there were external people given equity (legal counsel, etc.) so it's premature to judge what's a fair share.

[bokonist]

No it's not premature to figure out what your fair share is. The proper time to negotiate is immediately, it only gets harder the longer you wait. You should negotiate your share relative to the current other members of the startup, and then everyone should dilute at the same rate when you add an option pool.

Unfortunately, you have already made the mistake of waiting seven months. As soon as they reneged on paying you the "imminent" cash salary, you should have demanded a much higher equity stake than low single digits.

At this point, you have the right to ask for whatever you can get. It's just a matter of what your alternative is, and how valuable you are to them.

[wyvern]

Thanks.

Should I try to line up a job before negotiating?

[bokonist]

That's usually not necessary, but I don't know enough about your situation to comment.

[wyvern]

Situation: so-so. 4 jobs in 4 years, but good performance/references, obvious talent that comes across in an interview. Sour notes are that I have an unfinished graduate degree (left academia for Wall St) and was laid off and unemployed for 5 months in 2008 because of health problems. Because I've been working for deferred cash for a while, I don't have a lot of savings. Once my back pay comes through, though, I'll be on better ground, but right now I wouldn't want to be out in the cold. Also, I really like the other founders and the work, so leaving lightly might be a dumb decision.

[bokonist]

That's a tough call. Take any advice here with a grain of salt, because I don't know you or the people involved. But if I was in that situation, I might ask nicely for a greater stake, and then if they refused, and I thought I was getting below market compensation, I might quietly look for another job.