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I have been employed in a small web agency for about 2 years now and I'm a tech guy. About 6 months ago one of the project managers started talking to me about an idea and suddenly(with the support of the ceo) we started building it. I'm the only developer involved(I can be called CTO), I basically build everything from a vague initial idea, making significant contribution to the whole project. I worked almost full time (80-90% of my time) at this project being paid the same salary as employee of the company before the project started. We are now in a final stage and we have several investors and vc's interested.

I would like to know what could it be a fair equity for my position

Thanks a lot.

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I would like to know what could it be a fair equity for my position

"Fair" is such a big word. I don't know if anyone can tell you what is "fair" in this context.

What you are legally entitled to is easier to answer. Sorry to be harsh, but as I read it, you're not legally entitled to any ownership. You were a salaried employee all along, you had your full salary while working as a developer for the parent company, and there was never any agreement (written or verbal) that you would have ownership.

Then what would be good for business is another matter. If the CEO etc are impressed by you, they should want to offer you "golden handcuffs" to keep you motivated and keep you from moving to another company. By "golden handcuffs" I mean something like an options program, where ownership is given over time, contingent on your ongoing employment.

As for the size of these "golden handcuffs", it's really down to what you can negotiate in the situation. IMHO there are no clear-cut guidelines for pre-Series A companies. Have a look through some of the past discussions here to get an idea, but IMHO there is no clear external benchmark value you can apply to your situation.

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