So I posted a question on a more local business forum about how to go about partnering with a stranger who approached me for a startup.
I have been saying that we go 50/50. I do the engineer and he does the business. I was asking about how to practically go about forming a relationship that protects us both etc but I got completely flamed about being naive and getting abused by the "biz guy with the idea". Their argument was that I would put in all the work, my time was valuable and I should get paid for it thus not build his app for free.
I'm having a hard time agreeing with that to be honest and I just ditched the conversation. Am I being totally naive?
I think the non engineer has plenty to bring to the table with regards business development, sales, domain knowledge etc. I personally feel we are perfectly paired and I would much rather partner up with a stranger than friend/family member.
The way I see it is that we will both go out and take a punt on the concept and see what happens. I am really stressing a "LEAN" approach with short feedback loops so I don't get burned building out a product that nobody wants.
What is the take of engineers on here who get approached to co-found with engineers? I am sure that insisting on getting market rate for your efforts is a non runner if you are ending up with 50% equity in the company holding the revenue/profits/IP.
