FIG 0 Nine screens, one in front. Most of them are not doing the work yet.
A founder has an idea and a plan to test it. What they usually lack is the work that turns that idea into a product people will pay for: product direction, interface design, positioning, and a plan to reach buyers.
Founders in a recent Reddit thread named three bottlenecks: reaching people, getting new users to the core feature, and getting people to pay. Each needs paid work, and the open question is how to pay for it.
There are three ways to do it. You can hire someone under a service contract, bring them in as a co-founder, or combine a fee with a smaller stake.
The test: defined job or shared risk
Ask one question first: does the founder need someone to do a defined job, or someone to share the risk of building the company?
If the answer is a defined job, a service contract is the right tool. If the answer is shared risk, you need a co-founder.
When a service contract fits
Contracts fit when the scope is clear, the founder can pay now, and neither side wants a stake in the outcome. A design system, a launch plan, or a positioning sprint are all contract work.
When a co-founder stake fits
Co-founder stakes fit when the person takes responsibility for the direction of the company, not just its deliverables. That usually means owning go-to-market strategy, product decisions, or both, working full-time or close to it, and accepting less cash now in exchange for a stake later.
Three ways to pay
The service contract
Contracts pay for the work. The founder keeps control, and the risk stays with the founder, who pays whether or not the product succeeds.
A small equity add-on is possible. Advisor and fractional grants usually sit between 0.1% and 1%, with cash carrying most of the value. Carta’s data shows a median pre-seed advisor grant of 0.24% in 2025, and the Founder Institute’s current FAST grid gives an expert advisor 1.00% at pre-seed. Those are advisor numbers, and FAST says it is not designed for work-for-hire, so the contract should be written as a contract.
The co-founder stake
A co-founder stake shares the risk and the upside. The person doing the work becomes an owner, so they lose money if the company fails, and they gain if it succeeds.
JobRise’s 2026 guide puts an idea-stage co-founder who is equally committed at 30% to 50% in a two-person team, and 20% to 35% in a three-person team. JobRise also says salary is usually low at this stage, often $0 to $80,000 in the US. That is one publisher’s view, not audited data, but it shows the trade-off clearly: a larger stake, less cash.
Or both: a fee plus a larger stake
Cash first, equity on top
Many founders pay a fee and add equity on top. Yaniv Goldenberg, a fractional CMO, calls this additive: full cash for the agreed work, with equity as an extra.
A mix can go above the advisor range if the role is defined. Here is an illustrative example, with made-up numbers, not a benchmark:
- A design and go-to-market engagement of 60 hours a month, for six months.
- A monthly fee of $10,000, paid on the first of each month, with a fixed review date.
- An equity grant of 20% of the fully diluted shares, vesting over four years with a one-year cliff, and a performance trigger for part of the grant, such as a target agreed with the founder.
The fee covers the work now. The equity covers the risk and the upside later, and it only makes sense if the role includes decision rights over the areas the grant is meant to reward.
Treat 20% as the top of the range. JobRise’s idea-stage co-founder ranges sit above it, but those are for people who carry co-founder responsibility. A contractor with a fee and 20% needs the same terms as a co-founder, or the grant will look like a payment for hours rather than a stake.
What a co-founder stake should include
Equity without decision rights is a bonus, not a partnership. Write down what the co-founder decides, and what the founder decides.
Real decision rights
Name the areas the co-founder owns, such as go-to-market, product direction, or hiring for those functions. Agree how disagreements are settled before they happen.
Reduced cash, not zero cash
Taking no cash at all means lending the company your living costs, and that is hard to sustain. Agree a salary that covers living costs at a modest level, and a fixed date for review.
Vesting and what happens if someone leaves
Four years with a one-year cliff is the common co-founder structure. Agree what happens to unvested shares if either person leaves, and whether the company can buy them back.
What the numbers look like
Co-founder ranges at idea stage
The ranges above are for a true co-founder: equal commitment, real risk, and a defined role. A person who joins after the company has raised money or found customers usually gets less, and JobRise puts that at 10% to 25%.
Service and advisor ranges
Advisor and fractional equity is smaller, and it vests over two years. Founder Institute’s FAST agreement is the standard template for this. Use these numbers only for the advisory part of an engagement, not for paid design or strategy work.
The risks on both sides
For the founder
Co-founders can disagree on direction, leave early, or take equity without carrying the risk they promised to carry. A contractor can deliver the scope and still leave the product without a strategy.
For the person doing the work
Equity can be worth nothing if the company fails, and the cash may be too low to cover living costs. A contract can be paid in full and still leave no stake in what they helped build.
Cash first, whatever you choose
Deposits and milestones
Whichever structure you pick, cash should cover the work now. Common structures for short projects are 50/50, with half up front and half on delivery, or 40/40/20. For longer projects, use milestones, and trigger each invoice on delivery rather than approval, because approval can stall for weeks.
Hold a deposit of at least 25% of the fee, or 50% for a client you have not worked with before. A prepaid monthly retainer is the strongest protection for ongoing work. These are common practice from invoicing and freelance guides, not legal rules, so have a lawyer review the terms before you sign.
Where we fit
Two ways we work
Most of our engagements are service contracts for a defined scope. A small number of founders at MVP stage bring us in as co-founders, with decision rights and vesting written down before work starts.
If you are building from an idea and want to talk about which structure fits, start a conversation with us.
