What’s current thinking on how to allocate shares in a startup before it starts? Here’s the scenario; it’s my idea but I’m not a hacker. The money isn’t in the product but in the back-end (the data). I’ll be responsible for the UI design and overall usability of the product. I’ll need one hacker to get to the demo stage. I’ll need one ‘salesman’ (it’s a free product) to get a reasonable number of users to prove the value of the data. My goal is to be acquired by someone with the wherewithal to boost the users exponentially - which boosts the value of the data exponentially. And profits. So how does one allocate the shares and then how are new-hires cut into the action?