Interesting question - would you rather be a cofounder with 5% equity or an employee with 6% equity. (In the tumblr case, worth about $10mm more). Given that

Interesting question - would you rather be a cofounder with 5% equity or an employee with 6% equity. (In the tumblr case, worth about $10mm more). Given that most (everyone?) would rather be the employee with 6% equity, it brings into focus what's really important at the end of the day. All else equal, the founder/cofounder label might be worth something to the ego, but, having been one of 100 or so "founders" of Opsware, and also having worked at a company where the "Founding CEO" joined almost a year after I did, I've grown to recognize that "Founder" is nothing more than a label, doesn't really signify that much. Total Compensation Package (inclusive of equity) is what's important. [Edit: I guess some people might consider "Founder' of a successful company to be a proxy for their reputation, and reputation is very, very important, as it can be leveraged during salary negotiations, or, raising money/hiring. So, from that perspective, being known as the "Co-Founder of Tumblr" might be relevant]