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Ask HN: Where can I find employees who are ready to work for equity?

9 points by vladimirsvsv77 ↗ HN
I am the founder of a startup, and I don't have enough budget to pay a market salary to my new employees but I can offer them equity. I have an option program. Where I can find employees who are ready to work for an option? Maybe there are some resources to publish job offers like this one?

7 comments

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minimaxir
8 upvotes in 4 minutes?

Of all the posts to manipulate votes on, this one ain't it.

NonEUCitizen
Perhaps you can try to recruit all the other "founders" who cannot code and who cannot raise money to work for you. The best place to find these potential recruits are at "networking events." However, be prepared for them to to counter-recruit you to work for them for free or below market rates.
gus_massa
Wrong site. When someone ask here if it's better to get cash or equity, the most common answer is cash. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19064983

How much equity? Does it has the standard vesting scheme? What happens in case the employee get fired? Does he/she keep the equity? When there are real investors, will they get liquidation preference? What happened to the previous developer?

kdmedev
So essentially you are asking people to work for free. Why should they spend their time and effort on working on your idea? You got to make people believe that you are going to make it and their investment will not go to waste.

You are not doing yourself a favor by being stingy on the details. You say you are a founder but of what kind of startup? What are you building? Are you making any profit?

Most importantly, do you really need employees right now? They are expensive and make things complicate. Outsource when possible and hire a VA

greenyoda
Since most startups fail, equity in an unknown startup can only be rationally valued at $0. Even if equity in your company has a positive value, it's likely to be diluted if the company raises additional funding rounds. Employees who understand this would be unlikely to exchange a market salary for equity.
vikingcaffiene
There’s a famous saying for this kind of thing: “Pay peanuts you get monkeys.“

No one, and I mean no one worth a damn would agree to an arrangement like this. Equity is worth less than nothing until it isn’t. And it will be years until that payday actually occurs if it ever comes. If your idea is good you can get funding for it. Make a deck. Raise some cash. Hire people.