ASk HN: second thoughts about joining startup - what to do?
Travis: Sounds like you've hit a rough patch, but that doesn't mean you should skip out on the idea if you believe in it.You need to establish expectations for your venture.  Simplest is hours / week; if he's working on it full-time, he'll be putting in 50-60 hours / week.  If you're putting in 10 hours / week, use that as a baseline to discuss both expectations as well as compensation.Alternately, adopt a sliding scale of equity for you, out of his general shares.  With my startup, we hired another coder on an equity basis, contracting out the specific deliverables he needs to come through with in exchange for specific amounts of equity.  E.g., we defined the admin interface, then specify that completion of this by such-and-such a date entitles him to 10 shares.  Add in bonuses for completing work early.  The sliding scale means that he is protected if he needs to go hire another programmer.However, make sure that he understands your desire to participate in the business side of things as well.  As a coder and startup guy, I've often found the strategic planning stuff the most interesting.And, finally, if he doesn't want to give you a reasonable amount of equity, remind him that he'll otherwise have to pay to have the website built, and that your prices range from $friend_price to $overloaded_price.  And building the site needs to be your #1, 2, and 3 priorities right now.Good luck!  If he's not amenable to these terms (giving you a share of the company), you may not want to work with him.  There are hundreds of great ideas out there -- don't limit yourself to this one idea.  It's not the idea that will succeed, it's the people.  You may be better off finding a better group.