It's not often you see fairness expressed in data - but this certainly counts.
Founders in 2-founder teams have progressively narrowed the spread between their two ownership percentages (judged before any external funding or hired employees). It used to be that 60/40 was the median split, whereas companies founded last year had that same split at 51/49.
Similar, though less dramatic, change can be seen in the 3-founder split data. The lead founder's share has decreased from 50% to 44% over the years, while the third founder has climbed from 13% to 22%.
So - what's happening?
The primary factor in the change to the median split is the percent of founding teams that just split equally to start (so 50/50 in 2-founder teams and 33/33/33 in 3-founder teams). Those equal splitters are much more common than before.
And why is equal on the rise? Likely due to some combination of pattern matching to friends' companies and strong backing for the equal approach from key industry players like Y Combinator.
However you end up splitting, just remember - it's worth a serious conversation. Friends don't let friends split equity without having the talk. :)
More data on founders and their ownership here: Founder Ownership 2025 Report.
Here's to the founders!
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Peter Walker
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