semi-nontechncl

My bootstrapped startup is pretty much fully built, but I've run out of funds and need to bring on engineers in equity-only positions. These are part-time remote positions that are mainly about keeping the site running and fixing bugs while I work on sales. Are there any free or cheap cap table resources you'd recommend I use to draw up offers for engineers joining my company this way?

I'm concerned about giving away too much of the company because that might hamper my ability to give out equity for other positions in the company in the future. I'm also concerned that if I give out equity incorrectly it might scare away investors or companies looking to acquire my company in the future.

Would something like offering an engineer 4% of the company per year be reasonable (capped at 12% ownership after 3 years)? I'm also not sure how a cliff would work in this situation. Maybe a 3 month cliff where I could fire them without giving them any equity if they end up not delivering at all? I'm not hoping to fire anyone, but I would be hiring people I don't know, so I need some kind of cliff.

Here are a few more details that might be helpful. My company is a California LLC with a single owner. No investor money has been raised to date. Unfortunately, I'm not friends with any engineers, so I can't just bring on my friends. The company is truly broke, so I basically need an under $100 solution for this. Something like paying $40 for a month long subscription with RocketLawyer.com is what I'd be looking for. Thanks!

I've read about how quantitative easing has resulted in a lot of companies with money that they can't find a place to get a good return on. The result is stock buybacks and high startup valuations. So I would think that getting a personal loan to pay off credit card debt at an interest rate of somewhere between 5-8% APR wouldn't be that hard, if there really is all this money sitting around looking for a decent return. However, the best online loans I'm finding are about 11-12% APR. I'm employed full-time and have good credit, with the exception of one credit card that is near the limit.

Are there any startups offering loans at the rate I'm looking for? If not, why?

I'm wondering how a website that has open-sourced its front-end (and back-end) code can prevent DNS cache poisoning phishing attacks? Since the front-end of the website is open source, the attacker's phishing site would look identical to the real site.

I was thinking the site owner could release a mobile app that checks the website's ip address and displays a message saying the site is safe to use if the site's ip address matches the ip address stored in the app. If the site's ip address doesn't match the ip address stored in the app, then the app would display a message saying the site is unsafe to use.

Is there a better solution?

I'm considering moving back to LA after a one year hiatus. However, after the recent earthquakes in Mexico, I started researching the probability of a major earthquake striking the LA area and the predictions are not reassuring.

For Southern CA, here are the stats for the next 30 years: Magnitude 6.7 - 97% Magnitude 7.0 - 82% Magnitude 7.5 - 37% Magnitude 8.0 - 03%

For the SF region, here are the stats for the next 30 years: Magnitude 6.7 - 93% Magnitude 7.0 - 68% Magnitude 7.5 - 15% Magnitude 8.0 - 02%

For reference, the 1994 Northridge earthquake was magnitude 6.7. Also, the Fort Tejon earthquake in 1857 in SoCal was magnitude 7.9.

I work in the film industry, so LA is the ideal place for me to live, but I could probably find work in NYC. I'm leaning towards not returning to LA due to the earthquake risk, but I'm wondering if I'm being irrational. Any thoughts on how to weigh odds that involve life/death?

Source: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3027/fs2008-3027.pdf