I'm late to this conversation but thought I'd weigh in anyway because I found myself in a similar predicament recently. I was able to recruit a talented develo

I'm late to this conversation but thought I'd weigh in anyway because I found myself in a similar predicament recently. I was able to recruit a talented developer-partner on the grounds that he'd receive 40% of the sale price of the application. Maybe my experience can help you. When it comes to recruiting, I think the answer lies in speaking candidates' language (if it's a business guy, remind him that startup experience looks great on a resume; for developers, make sure they know you appreciate the importance of their role to the success of your project). I think it's most important for the latter that they believe they'll do important work and feel appreciated... it's regretable so many of them have had bad experiences with crappy employers, but you can use that history to your advantage by setting yourself apart from it. The rest is details: Write up a job description using your best Ogilvyian copy (reference copyblogger.com). Headlines matter. I also suggest you use a triangulation strategy when you talk about compensation. I approached it by offering candidates their option of 1) $2500, 2) $1500 + 8% equity, or 3) 40% equity. On its own the 40% arrangement wouldn't have stirred much interest, but set against the backdrop of the other two options it looked like a great opportunity. I designed it that way deliberately with favorable results. Hope this helps.