[This is a guest article written by entrepreneur Zack Shapiro of the University of Colorado, Boulder]

I live in Boulder, Colorado, home of TechStars, a slew of bloggers and start-ups galore. Everyone seems to have their own great idea for the next big thing. Start-ups come in all shapes and sizes; they aren't all websites either. A start-up can be anything from a new city service to a catering company to an iPhone app.

When someone has a great idea they usually need money to make their idea a reality. But how do they get the money they need to take their dream from a prototype or a piece of paper, to a product that others can use, buy or otherwise interact with?

There are three major types of funding that entrepreneurs often seek out. Those three types are available in the forms of Friends and Family (commonly called F&F), Angel Investors and Venture Capital. Each require those interested to present or pitch their ideas in hopes that the particular investor will be interested in funding a project that aims, down the road, to be a self-sustaining business. Investors exist to make dreams come true for those that would otherwise not be able to fund, say, a 20 person staff over four years as their product evolves and matures.

I have a business idea, pitch and domain name that has been accepted by a company to take forward.

The deal they are looking for are:

1. I pay 4k upfront
2. We have a 80/20 split in my favor until I recover my 4k
3. After that we run at 50/50 split of revenue
4. We have joint ownership of the company (50/50 split)

Is this normal? Should I be willing to give up a 50% stake in the business vs having a separate arrangement on a 50/50 revenue split but no stake in the company?

Dave, we're trying to figure out, should we set up our business as an LLC or S-Corp? In particular, an LLC Corporation instead of an LLC partnership, though we have heard from a few people that a partnership LLC is best. What's the difference and what works best with three -- unequal ownership -- founders?

I just launched a new company with two of my pals and we're already arguing about job titles. I want to be "CEO" but they're saying that makes no sense because we should be peers and our titles should reflect the equality of our positions in the firm. It's kind of a goofy thing to argue about, but we're rather stuck.