As a partner in a consulting shop just starting out, this isn't a bad proposition. It nets you rent money to work on scratching a pet peeve; if you're between clients and you've got something really simple you can wrap up in a month at a discounted rate this is a great idea. HN is filled with "passive income strategies" blog posts that revolve around short projects like this.
Completely agree. I'm a consultant and this is very intriguing. Sure, the money is low and the equity is high, but I have a ton of side projects that never get finished. If this offer was what it took for me to finish something, I'd say 50% of a company and rent money for a month is worth a lot more than an idea that's just languishing.
A NDA, a No-Compete Clause in a contract, and even nothing written down and signed and witnessed by a notary public just rings alarm bells in my head.
What stops him from taking your MVP project and doing it with someone else? What stops him from telling others about your project so they can copy it or do it better?
> What stops him from taking your MVP project and doing it with someone else?
Nothing whatsoever. But then again, since we're talking about ideas that would be on the shelf anyway not a whole lot would be lost.
And the OP would be outed and burned beyond recovery. Anybody stupid enough to risk that on a forum as widely recognized as this one would be seriously out of their mind.
> What stops him from telling others about your project so they can copy it or do it better?
Again, absolutely nothing. What stops YC from doing something like that when you apply to YC?
This all boils down to basic trust, and at some point in the business game you're going to have to extend yourself far enough that you can get burned a little if you want to up your game.
This guy is extending himself far enough that he'll get burned a lot if he abuses the trust he's getting here. That alone should count as some insurance.
Imagine how many upvotes a post along the lines of "That hmexx dude is XXX YYY in real life and screwed me over" will get. Probably even more than "That hmexx dude is XXX YYY in real life, we did this thing and have just picked up follow on investment".
I agree. Ideas are a dime-a-dozen, especially ideas that are the type to languish on a shelf indefinitely.
Startups are all about execution. It's with this in mind that I find the OP's proposition interesting. In my opinion, the more important part of the proposition is not the money or the marketing work, but the kick-in-the-ass that he's providing to someone who would normally fear taking the leap to execute.
Having someone to whom you are accountable (i.e. a cofounder) is huge for executing. Being accountable only to yourself makes things incredibly hard to continue to execute through all the difficulties of starting a company.
A valid point of course but in reality anyone needing this type of arrangement wouldn't be in a position to sue to enforce the contract. Unless the idea turned out to be so super successful and if that were the case I'm sure money would be forthcoming to avoid any problems.
As a partner in a consulting shop just starting out, this isn't a bad proposition. It nets you rent money to work on scratching a pet peeve; if you're between clients and you've got something really simple you can wrap up in a month at a discounted rate this is a great idea. HN is filled with "passive income strategies" blog posts that revolve around short projects like this.
Back in October I might've taken you up on it.