However, I am ostensibly just a nobody and the founders (although they don't treat me poorly or anything) have much better credentials being Ivy league and tech

However, I am ostensibly just a nobody and the founders (although they don't treat me poorly or anything) have much better credentials being Ivy league and technical, financial and business oriented. Did their Ivy league pedigree and technical, financial, and business orientation let them raise enough money to pay you a market salary? No? Then their pedigree is worth precisely what yours is. If you feel really strongly that you want to be an employee and not a co-founder, ask for a market salary and let them, as a courtesy, pay it with N% cash until they raise a round and (100-N)% on a promissory note due as soon as they raise > $50k worth of funding.