yes you can work for something, as long at you are not employed. eg. you can work to jump start a startup, and get equity for it, or even be a founder and own

yes you can work for something, as long at you are not employed. eg. you can work to jump start a startup, and get equity for it, or even be a founder and own a chunk of it, but you are not allowed to be a 'employee' of that startup. You really have to get the advice a good lawyer for this. Not one of those big firm shops though. There are many good lawyers around SV, that are in small firms/own practice. You probably will get better advice from them..