Agree. Your math doesn't quite work here but your thought process is good. The opportunity cost of taking 3 months off work full time is significant - 30-60k p

Agree. Your math doesn't quite work here but your thought process is good. The opportunity cost of taking 3 months off work full time is significant - 30-60k per the number above is reasonable and I'd suggest is on the low end if the hustler is any good at what they do. To give a co founder whom I have never worked with $5k and 50% share in the company for only an MVP is not really compelling - I could go to Elance and spend $5k for something pretty reasonable, and retain 100%. Perhaps restructure your proposition, because your idea still definitely has merit. How about becoming a technology advisor for hustlers - help them translate their vision to a brief that can then be outsourced to elance (etc), then manage the developers for the hustler. I doubt you'd get 50% share in the product but you would get listed as an advisor with a minor share, some good $$$ for your time, combined they might have sufficient appeal.