cofounder

That's part of the natural evolution of a company and the CEO, cofounder, and you should all understand that.

It's not necessarily a failure of the cofounder and shouldn't be looked at as such, unless he's truly just being lazy.

I think it's reasonable to expect a cofounder to pull his/her weight in terms of equity.

Ideally the cofounder should transition to other roles as the company grows and hires people that make him obsolete in whatever role he's currently doing.

You need to be great at --defining product --building partnerships & channels --running sales & marketing Yes, all three...hence the cofounder part...along with wearing other hats when necessary.

(Intel cofounder Andy Grove mentioned this in the context of worker's rights.

There is one kind of shortage though, and one that is adequately compensated; programmers willing to work at below average wages for lottery tickets (read: technical cofounder equity) that happen to hit, and therefore end up making millions -- they don't even need to be exceptionally skilled, just right be in the place and right time (I've known several of these).