Hmmmm, only if the investors were US based and potential acquirers were US based. If investment is from UK investors then they are selling parts of their compan

Hmmmm, only if the investors were US based and potential acquirers were US based. If investment is from UK investors then they are selling parts of their company (shares/equity) in the UK - even if the consumer market (ie where they sell they product) is US based the value of the company is still routed in the UK market. One thing I've learnt over the past few years is that valuations between the US and UK investors seems very different, even in software and so especially in hardware since the product and companies are not as scalable. I'd push for co founder status as others are suggesting with 10-15% stake and 16.8k salary rising to 35-40k, OR 26k rising to 44k with 2% stake, can you get a shorter lock in for the equity? Also, make sure they are aware of the new pension regulations coming in - many start up founders are trying to ignore that.