Startups with 2-founders are more fair*
*If by fair, you mean they split equity closer to equal.
Look at that gap in ownership in the 3, 4, and 5-founder teams. There is a durable preference for the CEO (usually Founder A) to get a bigger slice of equity pie.
Data: 40,228 US startups on Carta. We looked at the equity split among founders at the beginning (before any funding, etc).
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44% of 2-founder teams split equally in 2025. The median split was 51/49
27% of 3-founder teams split equally in 2025. The median split was 45/33/20
17% of 4-founder teams split equally in 2025. The median split was 40/25/19/12
5% of 5-founder teams split equally in 2025. The median split was 36/22/17/12/8
(Percentages may not sum to 100% in the larger founding teams due to median calculation)
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Pretty significant shift towards closer to equal in the 2-founder teams over the past decade, but 3 and above not so much. The shift in the bigger team is more about the "last" founder getting a larger share of equity pie.
You can end up succeeding with any equity structure (although something like 90/10 would be suspect) as long as the whole team is bought in - have those convos early!
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