Co-founding
tstegart: I think the price of obtaining limited liability is so low these days it doesn't make sense not to do it. It also seems obtaining limited liability would go hand in hand with putting your agreement in writing, so I'm failing to see your potential co-founder's reasons for not doing this. Unless you're going on a handshake (which I doubt), you'll decide on how much equity is "the lion's share" and then divide it using some form of agreement or equity division. You can't have equity division without a company to divide, and the company you start will hopefully limit your liability.