Ah, the Mr. Wallet and Mr. Brains scenario. :-) Get a really good lawyer who has done this many times before. Be sure to do a shareholder's agreement -- a pr

Ah, the Mr. Wallet and Mr. Brains scenario. :-) Get a really good lawyer who has done this many times before. Be sure to do a shareholder's agreement -- a prenuptial agreement for the business. Things WILL go sideways. Mr. Wallet will think his money caused the venture to flourish. You'll think "Meh, my ideas were so good his money wasn't really needed." Resentment ensues. Business dies. Oh. And say all the hard stuff now. Talk it through. All of it. "What if I decide I hate your guts? Then what?" Etc. But yeah. As one of the commenters said, why are you getting equity when Mr. Wallet could just rent your brain? Ask him: "Why me rather than someone else?" "Why now?" "Why this arrangement?" Hint: sometimes Mr. Wallet has less wallet than he appears to have. Maybe not your Mr. Wallet, but I've seen this happen. EDIT: done correctly, the legal fees for setting up your business would be large. A non-amateur lawyer might go north of $20K by the time it's done. Maybe the transaction costs of setting up co-ownership aren't worth it. Maybe you follow the Hollywood approach: take a small percentage of the gross. /Phil.