Working for a startup this way would essentially turn into an angel investor, but instead of investing money you're investing your time. If you really believe i

Working for a startup this way would essentially turn into an angel investor, but instead of investing money you're investing your time. If you really believe in the team (grit and execution is more important than ideas IMHO) you could absolutely do this. But keep in mind that investing in startup is all about making 10 or 100 bets and hoping that while most of them will go bust some of the bets will earn outsized returns. Common wisdom is that 9 out of 10 investments go belly up but the tenth become Facebook and the whole portfolio makes a good profit. How many startups can you invest your time in and how confident are you that you can find the startup that succeeds? Now, if I where in your shoes, and I am in fact quite envious of the freedom you have, I would find a startup and a cause that I enjoy working with and disregard financial outcomes. Maybe see if there are technical solutions that I could help with to combat human trafficking or child pornography.