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"Equity only" sounds like "work for nothing". Everybody has to live off of something. Offer a salary that'll cover rent + noodle money and you'll see a lot of
by mpk 18y ago
"Equity only" sounds like "work for nothing".
Everybody has to live off of something.
Offer a salary that'll cover rent + noodle money and you'll see a lot of positive responses if you throw in some equity. Or maybe even if you don't.
A lot of developers are willing to live on the absolute minimum for a while if you pay them enough to cover rent and food.
Equity is a strong motivator, but it's not even half as strong as the need for food or the fear of losing the roof over your head.
If you want a talented developer to hop on board you have to make sure you can cover his/her basics.
- kaens 18y agoThis is exactly the reason that I turned down equity-only offers while I was freelancing after being on the down-and-out for a while. I was not in a financial situation where I could work for equity, I had bills to pay, and barely enough money to do so. I eventually found a very good client with a very good idea, and am now working for a "pay the bills and save a little as well" salary + (a fair amount of) equity, which should work out really well - but before that, every offer for equity that I got was from someone that either couldn't afford to pay my bills while waiting for their idea to come to fruition, or just had a "ooh like a myspace/twitter mashup!!" flop of an idea. If your idea is good, there are a lot of competent programmers who will work on it if you can keep a roof over their head and food in their stomach. Hell, I would live on someones couch or spare room (hence just food costs) while working on their idea if it was a really good one and I got along with them (I imagine I'm in the minority here).