3 ms·

How much equity for a web designer?

1 points by ericb 19y ago

run4yourlives 19y ago
How much of your success is due to his/her work? Their position matters little.
- ericb 19y ago
  run4, Thanks for the feedback. While I agree with you in principle, I find this hard to quantify. If we succeed, I will owe my success to the utility company for providing potable water and my webhost for hosting my site. I'm not sure, if I use the success yardstick that way, whether it really leads to realistic compensation. It's as much about what the market will bear and going rate for a developer in some ways. That's why I'm fishing on here for more thoughts or norms.
  - run4yourlives 19y ago
    You're sharing value in something that can't possibly be defined yet. There is no market rate for that, that's my point. Web Designers don't get "x" value, because some designers might be as valuable as the founders, might actually be the founders or might just be a contract job. You've got a scale from 0% to 100% right there. The only thing you can really do is equate the risk/value proposition in a way that seems fair for the amount of risk they are putting in. Are they working without pay? Are they doing this part time? Are they making suggestions that are helping you to decide the direction of the company? All of these are variables that you need to weigh. Offering a piece of your company is a not normally a form of primary employee compensation. If you are looking at the designer as simply an employee, you'd be better off paying them, otherwise, you should IMO, not consider your designer as simply an employee. Does that make more sense?
ericb 19y ago
I have found in my last several startup attempts that I'm wasting (using) far more time on design-related issues than I would care to. It is the one obstacle that bars me from running full-speed with my ideas. Specifically, I think that if you look at giving equity to a designer justify it using the same <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/equity.html http://www.paulgraham.com/equity.html">Equity Equation</a> it looks favorable. However the equity equation lets you figure out a max, but not what is typical. In this particular instance, we have a working app running and the basic design is done, but it needs fine tuning and ongoing love. In general I'm wondering what a fair-shake would be for a partner in starting a new project. I'm also interested in the general case, too, of a brand-new startup.
- nextmoveone 19y ago
  That article is hella helpful!
- gscott 19y ago
  The design can sell the product, if you find someone great at laying things out and generally providing a look and feel that makes you want to use it then it would be worthwhile to retain that person. I believe that you can give equity that vests over time, so if you need to let the designer go he/she isn't tied in too much, only gets a small amount of equity.

1 points by ericb 19y ago

run4yourlives 19y ago

How much of your success is due to his/her work? Their position matters little.

ericb 19y ago
run4, Thanks for the feedback. While I agree with you in principle, I find this hard to quantify. If we succeed, I will owe my success to the utility company for providing potable water and my webhost for hosting my site. I'm not sure, if I use the success yardstick that way, whether it really leads to realistic compensation. It's as much about what the market will bear and going rate for a developer in some ways. That's why I'm fishing on here for more thoughts or norms.
- run4yourlives 19y ago
  You're sharing value in something that can't possibly be defined yet. There is no market rate for that, that's my point. Web Designers don't get "x" value, because some designers might be as valuable as the founders, might actually be the founders or might just be a contract job. You've got a scale from 0% to 100% right there. The only thing you can really do is equate the risk/value proposition in a way that seems fair for the amount of risk they are putting in. Are they working without pay? Are they doing this part time? Are they making suggestions that are helping you to decide the direction of the company? All of these are variables that you need to weigh. Offering a piece of your company is a not normally a form of primary employee compensation. If you are looking at the designer as simply an employee, you'd be better off paying them, otherwise, you should IMO, not consider your designer as simply an employee. Does that make more sense?

ericb 19y ago

I have found in my last several startup attempts that I'm wasting (using) far more time on design-related issues than I would care to. It is the one obstacle that bars me from running full-speed with my ideas. Specifically, I think that if you look at giving equity to a designer justify it using the same <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/equity.html http://www.paulgraham.com/equity.html">Equity Equation</a> it looks favorable. However the equity equation lets you figure out a max, but not what is typical. In this particular instance, we have a working app running and the basic design is done, but it needs fine tuning and ongoing love. In general I'm wondering what a fair-shake would be for a partner in starting a new project. I'm also interested in the general case, too, of a brand-new startup.

nextmoveone 19y ago
That article is hella helpful!
gscott 19y ago
The design can sell the product, if you find someone great at laying things out and generally providing a look and feel that makes you want to use it then it would be worthwhile to retain that person. I believe that you can give equity that vests over time, so if you need to let the designer go he/she isn't tied in too much, only gets a small amount of equity.