In this situation, what's a fair equity share?
webwright: "salary offered (deferred until funding)..."I'm assuming you don't mean that you get paid back for salary you didn't get paid before funding.  FWIW, investors are REALLY not keen to give $ to a startup and have a big slice of it go to to back-earnings.Onto the question/situation, though.  How long did they work on it before you?  Do you all work the same amount?Depending on the answer to those questions, I think you're entitled to a close to even share, assuming you all vest.A way to get around the inevitable response is to vest.  If you want to own 25% of the company, suggest that it vest over 3 years (you should ALL be vesting anyways).  A good way to pitch it is this: "You guys have been working on this for 12 months.  I've been working on it for 7.  By the time I vest, the difference will be 41 months versus 36 months of time in.  What do you think a reasonable percentage of my contribution will be at that point?"  If time is the only facture, that's a fair point.  If they poured cash in, have amazing connections, or had higher paying careers they set aside, they might be entitled to more.Regarding board seats, those get re-assigned if you get funding oftentimes.  Board meetings aren't particularly fun-- I'd avoid it unless you think your board will do something screwy.  Only thing I'd offer is that you want founders to have control of the board-- if not, the board can fire the founders.  If you are the odd-man-out, the board can fire you whether you are on it or not.  So being on it offers little protection unless you have unanimity clauses written in.  You can always ask to have regular optional attendance for the board meetings.