Having been in this situation before, my recommendation is put in place milestone based equity compensation. Everyone starts out at 0 equity which increases to

Having been in this situation before, my recommendation is put in place milestone based equity compensation. Everyone starts out at 0 equity which increases to some predetermined maximum upon accomplishment of agreed upon milestone. So if you're a developer and have business partner, that partner would get 10% for securing a distribution partnership with another site of a certain size. He may receive another 10% for securing a certain level of investment funds. You get the idea. I haven't tried this yet, but will certainly be using this model for future ventures. I won't be just giving up 50% equity unless the partner is a rock star with clear evidence of past accomplioshments