It is not, not if you can build this system on your own.
Demanding you be paid for your time to build this demonstrates you aren't convinced it's a profitable idea, which is a huge red flag to potential investors.
I mean, I’m in this exact situation right now and it’s working great. I wrote a short story about an automated farming commune running on open source farming robots. But I can’t afford to spend years of my life working on a problem I’m not getting paid for. Then I met someone who dreams of running automated farming robots at his farm, and now for four years now he has been paying me to develop it.
I’ve done entrepreneurship, and it’s extremely stressful. Sometimes people know how to do something but don’t want to do it unless they’re going to get paid directly for the labor. Despite all the stories here on HN, this is actually fine.
Take a look at your comment at the start of this thread, including the quote from the article:
>> Shameless plug: I understand how to make and launch exactly this kind of system, at least technically. If you want it built, please contact me.
> I cannot roll my eyes hard enough - if you can, then do it already. Why the hell do you need the encouragement?
There is no discussion of partnership. The point is, some people know how to do something and they want to work on it just because they would find the work enjoyable. In which case they may not care who owns it. If they are always working on someone else's product then they are used to not owning their work. They would just rather work on something they feel good about working on.
In my case, I have significant decision making power and all of the engineering work is open source, so I will maintain access to the IP no matter what. I would have to pay for a robot in the future if I want one of my own, but that is a very low cost compared to the years of engineering I've done that I have not had to fund myself. But I don't really know if I want my own farm. It was a dream I had six years ago, but now I have other dreams. Mostly I am happy that I am able to provide these machines for people who need them.
This isn’t farming, he needs zero resources to build this on his own, the fact that he doesn’t do it means he doesn’t think this idea has merit on its own.
Investors, cofounders want to see skin in the game. This disclosure shows he doesn’t have that, full stop. That’s disqualifying for nearly any partner who would be worth working with, and justifiably so.
This guy doesn’t have the stamina to see this idea through.
