[hoursforequity]

We agree with you, however, this is a way to turn an idea into a minimum viable product without spending money. This may not be the best way to build a full product, but our philosophy is the more hypotheses you can test without spending cash the better off you are. Thoughts?

[asanwal]

With this comment, I lost any faith in this idea as it's clear this is not about both sides deriving value in the process. In your scheme, startup "founders" or really wantrapreneurs get to try out half-baked ideas by giving away worthless equity to folks that are ultimately being duped while idea guys ultimately talk about their MVP and pivots and other bs that people who fancy themselves as startup founders think they should talk about.

On a related note, the "founders" participating in sites like these give a bad name to business people with legitimate biz building skills.

[hoursforequity]

I'm curious about why you think that? Most of the startups that have used our service so far have been started by engineers (including myself) that need help building a product they actually believe in... not just idea people going after the first thing that comes to mind.

Also, when equity has been issued it was typically in the 10-30% range. Essentially, businesses are using this as a way to find partners - not to dupe engineers.

Thoughts?

[ville]

Why would I want to build that product in exchange for equity, which will probably be worthless?

If you don't want to spend money on your idea, chances are it is even more likely to fail than an average startup. This feels like a way to exploit talented and gullible people who want to work at startups.

EDIT: typo

[hoursforequity]

Why would you ever agree to work for a company that builds useless products, regardless of pay?

In our experience, founders have spent money on their ideas. However, many bootstrapped startups (particularly the hardware engineering companies we have helped) don't have enough for talent and prototyping. When equity is issued these companies are bringing on partners, not gullible engineers. Just my two cents, please let me know if you see it differently.