If you don't need the cash right now, and are okay with not getting a return on your investment for many years (if ever), go for it. Just make sure you vet the

If you don't need the cash right now, and are okay with not getting a return on your investment for many years (if ever), go for it. Just make sure you vet the opportunity as an investor would, not as an employee or contractor would. This means understanding the company's team, product, market, financial condition etc. You also need to understand the full cap table and who has liquidation preferences, how your shares might get diluted, and other such factors. If you don't intimately understand what all those terms mean, don't do it. If there is a current valuation that probably means they either have raised significant amounts of capital in the past or have significant revenue. Which raises the question of why they'd even be willing to pay a premium to compsensate you in equity.