Hello, someone wants to pay me equity to build a web application for them as well as mobile apps. They say 10 percent.
Does that seem reasonable?
It’s just he and I, so I’m unsure. I’ve been doing Web Development at a Fortune 500 company for about 3 years now. I’m comfortable across all levels of the stack. I have built my own applications. Only a few with its own UI but I’m comfortable there as I have the meta front end developer courses underneath my belt.
I’m sure I’m proficient based on my job opportunities. Keep in mind that these are applications and not static sites.
You aren’t mentioning what else the startup has or will be contributed by the founders.
If it’s only you putting the work and there’s no other contribution, and you get 10% equity, someone is stealing 90% equity from you, you would just work on your own and have 100% equity.
So focus on what the other founder already has or what they are willing to put, is it money? an idea? exactly how much money? How advanced is the idea, do they have any documents? specifications? market research?
Quantify both sides of the offer then compare them, if your work for 6 months is worth 1/9 of a half assed idea written on a napkin and maybe 100$ of investment but without any actual commital, then you probably need to reevaluate your self worth.
Maybe it’s actually a very advanced idea with loads of documents and research and specifications and previous work done, and maybe he has a fund upwards of ten thousand dollars. Get all of those facts precisely, then and only then will you be able to calculate and commit to equity and time contracts.
As it stands, as someone said, 10% is nothing of nothing.
If someone just point blank offered you 10% of equity in exchange for nothing, then I wouldn’t even consider doing business with that person, no renegotiating, just flat out refusal.