You're assuming that I think I'm the one with the hot stuff reputation and trying to maximize my "personal wealth". But you've got it backwards. The reputation point came from trying and failing to reach agreement with two different technical cofounders because they wanted more equity based on their reputation/connections.
I was the ugly duckling, and in retrospect, they were right. I should have realized this and weighted the equity equation towards them because of their reputation and proven capabilities as compared to my own.
I should have qualified the idea point: it assumes that all cofounders are deeply in love with the idea and mutually believe that it's truly innovative, unique and differentiated, versus "Let's do a daily deals site."
To answer your question about what happens if the company pivots: the initial split is always wrong as more information becomes available (turns out Bob is working harder, or Jane takes the CEO title), but is almost never changed. So no.
The "initial split" (aka Equity) frequently change. Lots, and lots of stories in the valley about early founders getting screwed through dilution. So much so, that I've become surprised when it doesn't happen at a successful company.
In fact, I seem to recall there was a movie about this very topic recently...
I was the ugly duckling, and in retrospect, they were right. I should have realized this and weighted the equity equation towards them because of their reputation and proven capabilities as compared to my own.
I should have qualified the idea point: it assumes that all cofounders are deeply in love with the idea and mutually believe that it's truly innovative, unique and differentiated, versus "Let's do a daily deals site."
To answer your question about what happens if the company pivots: the initial split is always wrong as more information becomes available (turns out Bob is working harder, or Jane takes the CEO title), but is almost never changed. So no.