You're welcome. The obligatory IANAL. If you are an accredited investor and meet the guidelines according to the SEC then by all means a SAFE is totally fine

You're welcome. The obligatory IANAL. If you are an accredited investor and meet the guidelines according to the SEC then by all means a SAFE is totally fine although I'd still advise against it for what you are doing. But if you don't meet the requirements as an accredited investor executing a SAFE is dangerous for you and the founder as it may (likely will) turn off other investors who are even more risk adverse now than in the recent past. Just my 2 cents, but unless what you are trying to secure is > $100-120k in fees you are going about it in a way which will raise lots of questions for the founder when they do go to raise and have little benefit for either of you. A founder owing some consulting debt at their seed round is not abnormal and is seen often, but a founder owing debt with stock guarantees/promises to a non-accredited investor is an issue that will come up during any due diligence. I think you can definitely do a deal here if you really want, just need to explore other options which are less likely to raise questions and stick with common patterns because investors are worse then a deer in the woods. If they see anything out of the ordinary on a cap table or diligence sheet it can at worst spook them for good or at best just leave a sour taste in their mouth which means everything else is an uphill battle of proof for the founder.