What to do in an equity disagreement in a startup
motoko: Simply say that your 20% was already agreed to and that it's not negotiable. It seems to me (and of course, I can't know from short post) that Austin is negotiating for the sake of negotiating... maybe because he was taught to be a "hard charger" in business school? Regardless, you have already framed the situation as "try to receive more." No, you already have 20%, and now Austin wants 4% of your 20%. The answer is "no," unless you have something you want to "purchase" for your 4%.