[zeteo]

Well, you know, you're working in the kitchen and I'm waiting tables. Last night's tips were $100 and I have a perfectly fair system for dividing them. I get $50, here's $40 for you, and I'll give $10 to the busboy. Or maybe it's $80 for me, $20 for you, and screw the busboy. It doesn't really matter as long as everyone agrees and it makes sense. But my system is really fair, you know.

[tptacek]

This would be wittier if dividing tips was anything at all like allocating equity; in reality, the only thing the two problems share is arithmetic operators.

[zeteo]

Blunt contradiction does not really make an argument. If you had something more precise to say than "give less equity to people who joined later" - now that would be interesting.

[tptacek]

Well, in comparing tip splits to equity allocation, I observe that only one of those activities involves predicting the future.