How should cofounders split equity?
Based on advice from Carta · Updated 2 October 2026
Short answer
There's no single right split, but Carta's data shows what founders actually do. Only 41% of two-founder teams split equity equally in its 2021 study of 7,764 companies, though that share has grown: 45.9% of two-person teams split equally in 2024, up from 31.5% in 2015.
What the data shows
- Only 41% of two-founder teams split equally, in Carta's study of 7,764 companies founded since 2019 (October 2021).
- Equal splits are becoming more common: 45.9% of two-person teams in 2024, up from 31.5% in 2015 (Founder Ownership Report, January 2025).
- The share splitting equally falls sharply for teams of three, four and five founders.
- Most teams have a lead founder with a bigger share, who often becomes the CEO.
Why it matters later
Carta also found the median founding team owns 56.2% of the company after seed and 36.1% after Series A. Each round dilutes every founder's share.
In your deck
Your team slide and cap table tell the same story: who the founders are and how committed each one is. Investors will check both.
Read the originals
- How do co-founders actually split equity? · Peter Walker (Carta)
Carta's data on equity splits from 7,764 companies.
- Founder ownership report · Peter Walker (Carta)
How much founders own after each round, and how splits have changed.
- Co-founder equity split · Carta (Peter Walker)
How splits change with the number of cofounders.
Questions founders ask
- Should cofounders split equity 50/50?
- Many don't. Carta found only 41% of two-founder teams split equally in its 2021 study, though 45.9% of two-person teams did in 2024.
- How do most cofounders split equity?
- Most teams give a lead founder, often the CEO, a bigger share. Equal splits get rarer as teams get bigger, according to Carta.
- How much do founders own after raising?
- The median founding team owns 56.2% after seed and 36.1% after Series A, per Carta's Founder Ownership Report (January 2025).
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Keep reading
- How big should the option pool be at seed?
Balderton's guide: an employee option pool of 7.5 to 10% at seed to Series A, growing to 15% or more. Plus the standard 4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff.
- How to make the team slide in your pitch deck
YC's guidance for the pitch deck team slide: why your founders suit this problem. With Dropbox, YouTube and Airbnb's team slides.