Negotiations are not about what's fair but about BATNA (https://simplicable.com/new/batna https://simplicable.com/new/batna) i.e. Best Alternative To A Negotiat

Negotiations are not about what's fair but about BATNA (https://simplicable.com/new/batna https://simplicable.com/new/batna) i.e. Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement. Can you get a better offer elsewhere? If yes, then you have no reason to accept anything less than that offer. Even if those entrepreneurs won't agree to at least match your best other offer, you're not losing anything. If you don't have a better offer elsewhere then your best option is to accept whatever they offer. If you want that job then the question is: what is their BATNA? If they can find someone cheaper that can do the job, they have no reason to offer that job to you. Note: it doesn't matter if they really can do that, only if they think they can. Other points: > I agreed to take a look and clean things up for a low goodwill fee. A mistake. They apparently were in a bind. They needed a job done quickly and you were a proven person for the job. You had leverage. You should have asked for a high fee. People are strange. It's possible that now they value you less because you did something for them for less than it was worth. > I prefer equity over cash this time I'm surprised you're so keen on equity. Equity is worth $0 until a business has an exit event i.e. does IPO or gets sold to some other company. If neither happens, the business can be very profitable for 20 years, the owners can pay themselves whatever salary they want from profits but your equity will be worth $0. Exit events are extremely rare. Or to put it differently, you have a higher chance of multiplying your money by getting max salary, 0% equity and then going to casino and betting on black. Betting on equity is no different than betting on black but people usually don't think of it that way. Equity in a company that doesn't yet exist is extremely risky.