Ask HN: Startup equity - time and expertise V money, market vision and a network
Hi,<p>Question: Can I expect a 30-50% equity share in a startup where the other partner has invested $y, no time, less expertise but good market awareness, and I've invested x time, lots of expertise, but no money?<p>Details:
I'm entering an interesting situation. I've been discussing with a clothing retailer in Europe a plan to architect and build a software product / web-service that will be very useful for their business, but also will most likely be commercially viable as a standalone web service; if it looks good we've agreed to spin it out and form a startup to move forward with it. In such a case I would probably work full-time on the startup, while they carry on with their business but potentially continue to add investment to the startup.<p>They have significant business expertise, particularly in their space, and we will initially work very closely to build the service so that it works well for them and fits their needs. I will be paid as a consultant for this task.<p>So, x months labor in exchange for $y.<p>However, there are many technical challenges involved in making this product a success, not just from a software point of view, but from an architectural and research point of view. I'll be looking after all that too. Won't go into too many details, but they couldn't achieve what they want without me (or someone with a similar skill set to me, and they're not many of those available).<p>Likewise, I could go and build this on my own, but they have a great network for getting future customers or even getting the startup acquired. Building out the product first as a bespoke solution for them and looking at its commercial viability seems like the right approach for us both.<p>Equity terms haven't come up yet as they work hasn't begun.<p>Once it's built, the company are going to have a great product that works well and fits their needs; I'm going to have been compensated for the work - is it reasonable to consider ourselves at that point square, and thus entitled to reasonably equal stakes if we move forward and commercialise the product?<p>Thanks for any advice!