Gf joined my startup after it was making money and now wants equity, AITA if i say no? "I will not promote anything"
Soo, I Started building this solo in late 2023, a tool letting Indian SaaS founders collect USD from US/EU clients wo conversion fees - then barely touched it until April 2025, when I quit my job and went all in, hit real revenue by July, and by Dec had my gf on support/outreach and one employee running things with me day to day, revenue grew every month since. I never put anything in writing for her - no equity, no salary, jus sent her a cut of profit when there was extra, sometimes more than I kept myself, while our employee stayed on a flat salary the whole time w no equity conversation, sth she knows firsthand working next to him. The idea, the build, the first unpaid year, and the banking setup (a EU provider Unlimit, after Stripe and Paddle both stalled over our India-registered structure) were all decisions I made ms, before she ever got to the codebase. Last week she said she wants equal equity as a co-founder, not someone I pay out of goodwill, and it blindsided me enough that I didn't push back in the moment. Now I'm weighing a salary bump, a small minority stake, or asking her to step back, with the relationship itself shaky and her family already skeptical of marriage regardless - so "we'll figure it out because we're together" won't work good, and Idk what's fair given everything she's put in.