I went through a test period with a guy in Dallas who had a not very good looking site in a very lucrative niche, one that I knew pretty well. My skills were pretty well aligned with his needs and we set up something that sounded fair.
For no cash, I was offered a gradually larger percentage of the business to max out at 7%. My commitment was established at 8 - 10 hours per week. I received a sliding scale of money based on amount of revenue over an established baseline. He had strengths. The website was built already and he had good money behind him up to that point. In negotiating, he refused my request to guarantee that the shares would not be diluted. The contract had a schedule of milestones that could not be met within my available time. 3 days after I signed the contract he pulled the one developer off the project to build something like Facebook from scratch. The deeper I dug the more doubts I had that the product would work and that he placed a premium on the customer relationship. All my suggestions on ways to monetize the site he rejected. So I bailed 3 weeks in. I was glad for the experience and I probably learned more from the failure than if it had succeeded. PJ Christie http://www.linkedin.com/in/pjchristie/ 512-577-4059 blog - pjchristie.com twitter - @growyourbase On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 3:03 PM, Prashant Sheth <[email protected]> wrote: > WOW, the group's been awfully quiet on this. Ok, I'll take the fall here. > I've seen this request often (as a programmer, web-guy, IT, more), and even > more often, it falters and goes away. > To answer this, here are the questions to consider: > #1: why would someone have this request? > #2: are ALL your basis covered: admin, legal, marketing & sales, support? > #3: once you've done this, what is the value proposition to your > programmer? what are all the things u are looking for? > #4: what is the market value for these services and why can't u afford it? > #5: if the person is going to defer their compensation, what's their > upside? is it fair? they are foregoing compensation and benefits for doing > the work with someone else.. > #6: what's the real upside-/ risk to the person: is it worth the upside? > #7: what happens if the biz fails not due to that programmer -person? > #8: if the compensation was reversed, i.e u were paid THAT offer for THAT > much work, would you take it? > If you come from a point of fairness, generally it'll work. Don't > understimate your programmer, and don't try to get something for nothing. > Too often biz "idea-generators" will come from a point of view "oh this idea > is so unique.. NO ONE has done it..." chances are .. its been done about a > dozen times.. and about a dozen people are doing it at this time. > The idea isn't the money, the execution is... that's why a strong executive > team is what is always looked for. > if you are ONE person telling a programmer that "build-it and the customers > will come" you are not reliable.. and the programmer is risking all.. > GENERALLY (not always).. if you have a team, and some measure of success.. > then there's a better position of reliability. The programmer's goal and > deliverables are tangible.. but as an "idea-person" your deliverables aren't > defined.. how do u build a business? > Finally, an NDA is about the most absurd thing in the world, if u are a > startup u do NOT have the litigation $ to get someone on an NDA.. its > MOSTLY the execution of the idea that will create a market winner.. > This would be a starting point for a discussion.. after this.. its all > fair-game and there's no limits to the ways things can/will work out. > Regards > Prashant > > On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 3:36 PM, Greeeenr <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I have and have had some great ideas. Most have gone on to be >> developed by others and bought by bigger companies. >> My frustration ,not being a programmer, is that many developers are >> not as qualified as they think or pretend to be. >> Many web developing companies are just looking for large corporate >> dollars and don't seem to put realestic timelines or bugets together. >> Having the Associations and sales experience I would like to partner >> with a web designer/designors and create these projects with an exit >> stradegy in place to sell and move on. >> I would appreciatte any ideas of how to >> -Partner fairly and not lose your idea >> - ensure I am involved with someone who can deliver a complete >> product >> - is there a form for this type of arrangement ? >> >> -- >> Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Refresh Austin" group. >> >> [ Posting ] >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy >> We do not accept job posts from recruiters. >> >> [ Unsubscribe ] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> >> [ More Info ] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin > > -- > Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Refresh Austin" group. > > [ Posting ] > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy > We do not accept job posts from recruiters. > > [ Unsubscribe ] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > > [ More Info ] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin > -- Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. [ Posting ] To post to this group, send email to [email protected] Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy We do not accept job posts from recruiters. [ Unsubscribe ] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] [ More Info ] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin
