&quot;Founder&quot; isn&#x27;t a qualification. It&#x27;s a super-common trap to think that it is; thinking that implies that you can see into the future and map someone&#x27;s resume to their impact on the company. You can do that only in the vaguest possible terms.<p>Joel Spolsky covered all of this in his guide to equity, which is like a more detailed version of Siebel&#x27;s post. If you have to give one co-founder living expenses, give the other co-founders IOUs for the same money when you get funded or start taking in revenue.