Magic Beans

Bringing More To The Table

Virtually every unicorn has someone who owns a chunk who isn’t even working at the company anymore. It’s more socially acceptable than ever to offer a percentage of a startup in exchange for labor. Many have reaped the benefits. Winning is extremely unlikely, but still much higher and more controllable than the lottery.

Still, offering someone equity in place of a salary for realistically at least two years of their life is a difficult equation to balance. Moreover, what’s essentially a piece of paper is very difficult to enforce if it becomes valuable. Early stage founders may get pushed out by later investors when the company actually goes public.

A business that already makes money but is missing a well defined technical execution is much more appealing.

Equity is not a valid currency.