Onboarding new co-founders: how to gauge how much equity is appropriate?

Entirely new to this, thus wanted to clarify with those who have gone through something similar before.

Have been building up a startup for about a year by myself with a few friends helping out with no equity. As the business needs are growing I am keen to expand the team with extra people joining as co-founders with cash/equity. Met a few people over the past few weeks: two stood out, one will get an offer. There is scope for this person to become my right hand man, however I want to make sure equity offered = his contribution over time.

The deal to be discussed is 30% equity, 1 year cliff, 4 years vesting, with yearly targets giving us enough time to try things out.

Two questions: – How do I ensure what I offer now aligns and continues to align with his contribution? Can we adjust the equity as we progress through the vesting period, to ensure there is still alignment – this is both up and down. Is adjusting this over time common practice, or do you set an equity target in the beginning + cliff + vesting which is then locked in? – Can I attach certain targets to the cliff in order to unlock the first batch of equity? Is this common practice?

Would be grateful for any advice on this, appreciate your time and effort.

Much love, Schnauser

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