What rayiner said, plus I will point out that the other major point of written contracts is to force a "meeting of the minds." Basically, when someone offers yo

What rayiner said, plus I will point out that the other major point of written contracts is to force a "meeting of the minds." Basically, when someone offers you "significant equity" did they mean 1% or 10%? Is there vesting? On what schedule? Without this and other critical information in writing, there is a huge chance you have totally different understandings of what the other party had in mind. This isn't to say they are trying to screw you, simply that there are ranges of "normal" for all of the important bits usually governed by an employment contract. If you don't have it in writing, your best hope is that yet another party (a judge) will impose her understanding of the terms. Not what you want.