When you offer somebody a revenue share or future equity, you're proposing a very unbalanced deal. You get a product (one that's the basis of your company, you

When you offer somebody a revenue share or future equity, you're proposing a very unbalanced deal. You get a product (one that's the basis of your company, your company can't exist without it). You have it, you start making money from it. It's unlikely it can be taken away, it's tangible. You get it right now. If the person is unreliable or doesn't deliver, you don't pay, you find someone else. Your "partner" gets a promise of some future benefit from somebody they don't know. They have to rely on future work and investment from somebody who is currently demonstrating they don't want to work or invest. If the person doesn't produce they get nothing. There are a million ways they will get nothing even if the person does succeed. This is not a "mutually beneficial arrangement". This is exploitation of desperate people. Furthermore, there are twenty guys a day asking "mutually beneficial arrangements" like this from programmers: it is not a unique opportunity for anybody. Outside the work-paid-for-with-hope scenario, you're talking about $5/hour? If the going rate for landscapers is $15/hour, what quality of work do you think you'll get if you hire somebody for 75 cents per hour? Roll up your sleeves and learn how to program. You're not going to find a sucker to do your work for you.