Thanks for your reply. It was difficult to limit explanation to 2000 chars, so a lot of my thinking/feeling was left out. You're suggesting that the only thing

Thanks for your reply. It was difficult to limit explanation to 2000 chars, so a lot of my thinking/feeling was left out. You're suggesting that the only things that will make the business a success are the financial and technology aspects. In my experience that's not the case at all. Money and tech are important, but the marketing and strategy are equally, if not more, important. You can build the best tech in the world, but without marketing and sales to get it to customers it's worth zero. Don't be so quick to discount your friend's marketing/strategy input. I'm not at all suggesting, even to myself, the financial & tech aspects are the only things that will make it a success. I'm certainly not discounting my friend's marketing/strategy input. What his company, as the 30% holder, brings to the table is largely the deliverable of this endeavor--it just can't be brought profitably (in their minds) without the tech that automates as much as possible, which has turned into a lot of complexity. I was only trying to question if the tech input being valued at 5% was out of line (and included the 30% figure of my friend's pre-existing stake because it's the only number I know). At least, that's why I posted here, but I'll be sure to further check my assumptions to ensure I'm not mentally undervaluing others' contributions (I don't think I am, but it's difficult to express that within 2000 chars). What I could not express in 2000 chars was that there appears to be a strong resistance, by MP, my friend, and the others who have already been established as partners to give up as little equity as possible (because they've already divided it up and are happy with their own numbers) while also wanting to drive down the cost of software as much as possible. It's difficult to express how that resistance is communicated, but I feel it rather strongly in conversation with both my friend and MP. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to respond.