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Thoughts on 1099 contract?
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Sounds more like abuse and not a job offer. Say no unless they can put a basic salary on the table.
I’m a founder.
I would give you 2% max but it would be vested over 4 years.
I would never insult anyone by paying them $0 either.
Have they fund raise? Do you believe in the product?
Would like to join you.
If they have been senior leaders in FANG, they know what they are doing. They are trying to get free labor out of you.
Were they at least director level? Hopefully not some “Lead” or “Head of” some obscure product/function BS. They should have money themselves to also pay you a bit out of their own pockets. 0 cash is 🚩🚩🚩
0 Salary means co-founder title and double digit equity….
Patent attorney is right. If you have cash you can pay people. Ask for a salary
There needs to be written communication about how long you’ll work without salary. Your one point needs to be protected as well, for example by a clause that defers dilution to other shareholders while maintaining yours. Also I’d ask for 1.5 points just because
As for me, I’d tell ‘em to kick rocks unless I was sitting on an absolute pile of money and was convinced the company truly had a shot
A contract is only as strong as the character of the people signing it. My previous startup has lied to me using contracts then turned around and tore them up. Promises of a future salary are worthless even on paper if the founders don’t plan on following through, and if they’re willing to get OP to work for no salary then I’m not inclined to think they would.
OP, stand firm and say you’ll only work for salary + equity. Don’t make the same mistake I did.
No startup should be paying 0 salary unless you’re working with Elon Musk himself - if the founders are paying themselves any salary and 0 for you then they’re absolutely cucking you, especially since you’re fresh out of college
Mentor
It’s only appropriate if you think it is. Nobody can decide that for you. That 1pct will get diluted quickly and may become worthless if things turn south. Given the 0 guidelines on salary in the future, this smells weird to me. If your time commitment and/or duties are low and you have income from other sources it may be less of a concern.
What 👆🏼said
If they have investors, that money is literally meant to hire on staff to grow the company. You’re either a cofounder with cofounder level equity or you’re salary with decent equity. Anything outside of that is a scam. “Very senior product and Eng leaders” still doesn’t mean a whole lot—they could have hit a ceiling and were forced to leave. Doesn’t automatically mean they can build a good, profitable business long term
Paper smarts is one part of the equation. SBF went from 10B to 1B in a single day. Most of the FTX team probably had their paper net worth’s evaporated. You should risk manage and not count on that 1% being worth anything (you’ll probably be diluted to hell by the time of your first liquidity opportunity)
I’m not doing sh!t for free.
I’m in a very similar spot, first 3 employees at a startup, ~2 years out of college, very competent co-founders, also ~1% equity. The equity as far as I understand it from self research and talking to friends in venture capital and others at startups, is standard around 1% for early employees. What is absolutely not standard is 0 salary. I think I’m being paid under market salary for what I’m doing, but only by a bit. If this company expects to keep you they better be giving you enough to cover basic cost of living. You should run away from these people unless they start paying you. Thats why startups raise money, is to pay people to build the company product before they are ready for paying customers
I work in VC. No
Coach
2 year internship is way too long for being unpaid, if they have $0 revenue not a good sign either. You’re young and have lots of time to redirect your career☺️brush up your resume and look else where good luck 🤞🏼
Interested in joining the company for no salary
The good news is if you don't get paid you technically could claim that all IP you create is yours because it isn't "work for hire"
Without co founder and higher equity ..it would be a no for me, personally. Start ups are very time consuming, you pour literally your heart and soul into it hoping it becomes successful. If they fail to agree, then id walk!
TF. No. Your role is worth easily 6 figures in tech, even early stage (this sounds more like an idea not even pre-seed tbh)
If they're hiring people with two years of internship experience as founding members, it probably means they couldn't find anyone else to exploit without structure or a viable product.
Blend of cash and shares, tracked by hours worked. You can work for multiple clients as well.
That doesn’t sound like a good deal. At the very least I’d be fighting for a non-dilutive 1% share if that’s their crappy offer. If you’re not a co-founder and they’re raising money, you should get a salary - and a damn good one for 1%.
Lol tell me about your skill set and I’ll see if we can find a role for you
No salary for full time work and 1% equity is criminal
Subject Expert
That 1% is going to be diluted down to nothing over time. You should start much higher, even if you are employee #1 and not a co-founder.
No you should not work for free in this economic environment