Co-founder equity split – should I pay on top of my non-cash contribution?

I’m looking for some advice on how to handle an equity split situation with my co-founder for our new business. Here’s the breakdown: * **The Business Setup**: My co-founder and I are building a startup together. She’s spent over a year doing the business setup—customer interviews, meeting brands, and paying for branding and fees. She estimates about 15 hours/week and around $8,000 in expenses. * **My Contribution**: I’m the technical co-founder and developed the iOS app for the business. I’ve put in 140 hours (Sept–Dec 2023), and based on developer rates, my work has saved the company $10,000–$17,500. **The Split**: We’ve agreed on a 51%/49% split, where she holds the majority stake. She feels my app development work matches her time contribution, but she’s asking me to also match her $8,000 in cash to equalize our equity. She’s proposed a payment schedule where I’d pay 25% of the $8,000 each year over four years (aligned with the vesting of my restricted units). **My Dilemma**: I originally thought my app development would count as my full contribution to the business, and I wouldn’t need to pay cash on top of that. However, I understand her point of view—she sees her $8,000 as separate from her time investment, so she’s asking me to match that financially. **What I’m Wondering**: 1. Is it fair to ask for my development time to offset the $8,000 completely? Or is it reasonable to treat her cash expenses and my app work as separate contributions? 2. Should I just agree to the payment schedule for simplicity and to maintain the partnership? 3. How have other co-founders handled situations where one contributes technical skills and the other handles business setup? I want to make sure both of us feel our contributions are valued and avoid any resentment in the future. Any advice or similar experiences would be super helpful! Looking back, I realize it would’ve been ideal to finalize these details before I started working on the app, but at the time, we were both just eager to get things moving. Now I want to make sure we address it fairly and avoid any misunderstandings later. TIA!