When I was doing freelance development, I had about one pitch per week for an opportunity like this. I never accepted, even though a lot of the ideas and even

When I was doing freelance development, I had about one pitch per week for an opportunity like this. I never accepted, even though a lot of the ideas and even teams sounded solid. There were usually several reasons, but they boiled down them not offering enough equity. These "startups" were almost always pretty-non-technical founders offering 1-2% premoney for a "lead developer" position. In my view, the very fact that they felt that the technical development of a web startup was only worth a couple percent spoke volumes. My advice: if you're looking for a skilled lead developer for a software startup, consider them an equal founder and split the pie accordingly.