Technical people tend to overvalue their own contributions. User research, hiring, and leadership is a very real thing and has real value. Your friend recruited

Technical people tend to overvalue their own contributions. User research, hiring, and leadership is a very real thing and has real value. Your friend recruited you, not the other way around... a very big value he provided is that he convinced you to join, and will presumably convince others to join in the future. When you say I believe a fair split is where I have at least 50% of the company., you're saying that a split of 51%, 75%, or even 90% to you feels equitable. To state the obvious, if you have more than 50% it is no longer your friend's company, it is your company. That's not going to happen. Let's turn this around for a moment: What if your friend got some VC money. Let's say he got a tiny seed round: $200k for 20% pre-money ($1M valuation). Now let's assume that you've invested 3 solid months building this app at $100/hr as a contractor (so, $50k -$60k dev work all-in). This implies that you've earned 5%-6% equity in the company for work already done. Your friend wants you to stay, to he offers an extra 5% for a round 10% equity. But wait you're a founder! you need more than that! You argue and thumb-wrestle or whatever and he agrees to 20% on a 4-year vest. This is probably fair. By that analysis, 30% over 3 years is incredibly generous. But only you know your own situation.