This is an interesting idea. As posed though, I don't think it is workable. As noted other places in the thread, equity for contract dev work is pretty silly.

This is an interesting idea. As posed though, I don't think it is workable. As noted other places in the thread, equity for contract dev work is pretty silly. Posed slightly differently though, he could be a technical co-founder for someone else who is also still working a day-job. Helping do bits of work for a "startup" with full-time founders does not deserve a large piece of equity. (I know the article said "small", but 8-18% as noted elsewhere in this thread by OP, is not in fact small.) Being a technical co-founder though would deserve this kind of equity or more, depending on how many people involved and what the work/money requirements were.