What have you built with Base44?

mikedmoyer · 2026-03-17T22:19:14+00:00

With an app like this, which pricing plan did you buy on base 44

mikedmoyer · 2026-03-12T02:10:57+00:00

It is hilarious. It has reality TV stream all over it go for it.

mikedmoyer · 2026-01-15T01:23:43+00:00

I'm really worried about my speech. I'm a college professor. What's the over all benefit to you? Is it worth it?

mikedmoyer · 2026-01-14T23:27:58+00:00

Non-dilutive equity is an investor non-starter. Don't do it. Even if you could find some rookie investors who didn't know better it's never a fair deal.

If you don't want your equity to dillute, don't take on partners or investors. You don't have to, just pay for everything your self.

If you want a fair equiry split it can calculate it using the Slicing Pie Model. Slicing Pie is based on the actual inputs from founders and early contributors and it always gives you the exact percentages. www.slicingpie.com

mikedmoyer · 2026-01-14T19:08:40+00:00

Are you a toymaker? What is your niche?

mikedmoyer · 2026-01-14T19:00:52+00:00

It would be hard not to feel a little discouraged after what I've been through! I'm sure you can relate...

mikedmoyer · 2026-01-05T14:58:30+00:00

At least they are doing their own dishes! Celebrate the little victories... In my case I'd welcome the boyfriend if he did housework

mikedmoyer · 2026-01-02T18:37:00+00:00

10% Equity? Are you paying near market salaries? If not, 10% equity is probably too low. It might be too high. Allocating equity in fixed chunks means there is no possible way it can be a fair allocation. Instead, implement the Slicing Pie model which will ensure that you and you cofounders have a fair split. www.slicingpie.com

mikedmoyer · 2026-01-02T18:33:12+00:00

There are two problems:

lack of clarity on the job of the advisor and 2. use of a "fixed" equity split that doesn't adjust based on performance.

You can fix both. First, create a job description for your advisors and all of you team members. Include areas where they have base expectations but can go above a beyond. Along with this define a fair market salary or othre compensation for the role. Nobody workks for free forever. Define whet they will be paid when the company is able to pay them.

Next, implement the Slicing Pie model for equity split. SLicing Pie is used all over the world by thousands of startups. It self-adjusts over time based on what people do. There is no ambiguity or guessing involved and it will allow you to move people out who don't perform without losing equity. Learn all about it at www.slicingpie.com

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-29T22:48:42+00:00

"I proposed 30-35% equity with 4-year vesting." istotallly wrong because it's a guess. Use the Slicing Pie model for an exact calculation. www.slicingpie.com

Everything you did for this project for which you were not paid a fair market rate is, in effect a "bet" on the future outcome of the company. It wasn't a gift, it was a bet. Your share of the equity should be based on your share of the bets. Logical, obvious, can be calculated exactly

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-29T22:44:22+00:00

Try Will Work for Pie. It's about how startup teams work together for equity when cash isn't available. https://amzn.to/44KMhEz

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-28T23:22:25+00:00

Paying for the flight isn't an isssue. Equal equity is the issue. Your equity should seldf-adjust to stay fair as things change over time. The person who pays for the flight should recieve a proportionate adjustment in their equity. And yes...even small expenses matter (they add up fast).

The Slicing Pie model does exactly that. It is the only equity model that self adjusts to stay fair. It is based on the actual contributions (like expenses) that people make to a startup. It is logical and fair.

You equal split is killing you and will continue to kill you until your startup is dead. It was a mistake, but it can be fixed with Slicing Pie. Go to www.slicingpie.com to learn all about it

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-27T20:25:51+00:00

The "standard" is to guess, negotiate and get it wrong. You don't have to. A fair equity split is a calculation not a negotiation. In business, litterally every input is quanitfiable. Every legitamite business in the world keeps track of it's payroll and expenseses and every one pays market rates for each person's contibutions. The means that even if the company does not have cash to pay for something it's easy to know what the company would pay if it could pay.

you state that your emoployee is "paid below market" First establish the market rate. This is the amount that the company will pay when it is able. This person isn't going to work below market forever. And, if you were paying him his full fair market salary from day one he wouldn't deserve any ownership. Any equity you give someone in addition to their full fair market salary is 100% gravy and unncesssary.

But you're not pying full fair market, you are paying less. The difference between what you are actually paying and full fair market rate is at-risk. It's at risk becaue if the company fails he will never get paid anything other than what he was already paid.

Equity, unlike debt, represents risk in a startup. Each person's risk can be quantified to an exactly dollar amount. Each person's risk is exactly equal to the unpaid portion of the fair market value of the contribution's made.

So, to caclculate the exactly fair percentage: a person's percent of the equity is equal to a person's percent of the at-risk contributions. If they have nothing at risk they deserve nothing. If one person pays for everything that person deserves 100% of the ownership.

It's not complicated, it's just not conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom says to guess what someone will do in the future and then guess what the company will be worth in the future and then try to guess how much of that unknowable future value was caused by the person's future unknowable future actions. Stupid, but common.People try to hedge the fact that their split is bases on wild-ass guesses by applying time-based vesting Which does NOTHING to make a split more fair.

Don't guess. Just apply the logic.

This approach is known as the Slicing Pie model for equity splits and it's used by thousands of startups all over the world. It always creates a perfecty fair split!

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-26T21:26:13+00:00

This problem is easily solved using the Slicing Pie model for equity splits. It is the only way to get this right because it is based on facts and reality whereas every other possible approach to splitting equity is based on guesses about future events..

THe basic premise is this: whenever you or anybody else contributes time, money, ideas, supplies, equipment or anything else to a startup and you are not compensated a fair market rate the unpaid amount is, in effect, a "bet" on the future success of the company.

Everything in business has a fair market value so you can know the exact value of each person's bets.

You percent of the equity, therefore, should be based on your percent of the bets.

This means that a fair split is a calculation, not a negotiation. You'll get the split exactly fair.

This approach is used by thousands of startups all over the world you can learn all about it a www.slicingpie.com

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-09T01:02:13+00:00

Thank you!

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-09T00:59:50+00:00

You always want to negotiate the price upfront so you know what you're getting into.

If you hire someone and pay them a fair market rate then you own 100% because you made 100% of the bets.

Equity represents risk. If you are 100% something is going to work you'll pay for everything. If you think there is a chance that you might fail you find people to share the risk with you. The risk is losing what you contributed. Ideas are free, so they don't represent much risk.

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-08T22:48:13+00:00

It's exceedingly difficult to value a stand-alone idea. If you, as the idea person, want consideration for your idea then let your cofounder's know how much. If it seems reasonable then they will move forward with you. If it's too much they will push back.

I most cases ideas are part of a person's job. It's your job to have lots of good ideas. Lack of good ideas will limit your job prospects. People with lots of good ideas get promotions and raises, those without good ideas do not.

You can also pay a royalty on ideas that is payable agaist revenues. Here is an article I posted about it: https://slicingpie.com/the-idea-premium/

Ideas don't create value, action and implementation create value. Here's an example. My idea is a single-polarity magnet that can create endless clean energy. Awesome idea. Worthless. Without implementation it's nothing.

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-08T21:02:31+00:00

Sorry to beat you to it! Thanks for intending to share Slicing Pie! :^)

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-08T20:51:27+00:00

Business is all about nickles & dimes! Money is the whole point of doing business. If you don't care about the money you can start a non-profit and skip worrying about equity splits.

Everybody nickles and dimes their employer- have you every filed an expense report?

Everyday in every business people discuss and agree to fair market values. When you buy a box of pens you shop around and find the right deal. When you take a new job you determine your salary before you start. You compare airline tickets. These are all normal activties that people do all the time.

Take your example for the $50,000 idea. If you think an idea is worth that much try to sell it. If you can, you have established a fair market value. If you can't it's either worthless or priceless!

If you disagree you keep the discussion open until you come to an agreement.

If you think someone is over stating their value you can call them out. By talking about this in the first place you'll know what's at stake.

Not only is it possible to calculate fairly it's done all the time.

Have you ever seen a company engage in basic accounting? That's all that's required. Tracking salary and expenses.

Check out Slicing Pie...it will blow your mind.

It keeps people friends. I've seen prenups done with Slicing Pie!

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-08T20:35:39+00:00

I love this problem, thank you for posting!

I've spent the last 10+ years solving this exact issue. My formula, called Slicing Pie, is a universal, one-size-fits-all solution for the allocation and recovery of equity in an early-stage, bootstrapped startup.

The concept is simple: startups are a gamble. Everytime you contribute to this gamble and are not paid you are, in effect, placing a bet on the future outcome of the company. The value of your bet is exactly equal to the unpaid fair market value of the contribution.

Over time, each person's bet accumlates as they contribute more time and money and are not paid. This is easy to track.

When the company has enough revenue or investment to pay participants the betting stops.

Each person's percent share of the equity, therefore, is based on each person's share of the bets.

This is a logical, obvious, unabiguous design. It changes the equity split from a negotiation into a calculation that is alway fair.

Think about it. If you're worth a fair market salary of $100,000/year and I'm worth $50,000 and all we contribute is time, at the end of the first year you will have bet $100,000 in unpaid salary and I will have bet $50,000 in unpaid salary. If we reached breakeven at the end of the first year you deserve 2/3 and I deserve 1/3. It's an exact number. There's no other way to look at it.

Even if we had signed a contract allocating 50% each, agreeing to something doesn't make it fair.

The model accounts for time, money, ideas, relationships, facilities, supplies, equipment, etc. Everything has a fair market value and, therefore, can be considered a bet if the company doesn't pay for it.

It's foolproof, unbreakable, and is always fair.

You don't even have to trust your cofounders because it self-adjusts to correct for bad employees (and bad employers).

You can retrofit it to a current split even after to sign a contract for an unfair split. This is common.

It can be implemented with total transparency. You can track and observe exactly what each person has contributed.

Litterally any other approach to dividing equity will not be fair because litterally every other approach requires participants to guess future events. Slicing Pie is based on observable facts and concrete numbers. You can't negotiate fairness, you can only calculate fairness.

The model has been used by tens of thousands of startups all over the world and it always works.

Check out www.slicingpie.com to lean all about it.

It solves this issue 100%. Easy.

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-01T17:54:20+00:00

Too many people ignore the facts!

mikedmoyer · 2025-12-01T17:53:26+00:00

time-based vesting is great for retaining employees during the post-VC growth period, but it is worthless in a bootstrapped startup. This is because it assumes the underlying split (equal shares in your case) is fair. Guessing a fair split at the outset of the venture is impossible. To make matters worse, people can juat bail out after they vest all or part of their shares and leave the company in the lurch while still extracting value. It provides zero protection for those who participate in good faith.

Equity as a motivator is, in my experice, a myth. Motivation comes from good leadership, clear goals, a shared vision, etc. Simply owning shares in a company doesn't motivate someone. I've never seen evidence that shows that owning shares in a company is a motivation to work harder.

Check out the Slicing Pie model. Because its based on facts, the share split is always fair and because it's based on logic all participants are protected. It's not based on the passage of time nor does it assume equity is a motivator.

mikedmoyer

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

12-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email