Hey Guys,<p>About to begin production on a project, and rather than take cash I offered, the developer I am working with would like an equity stake. Currently, there are two founders who are putting in money, and one doing all practical (management) and creative (customer facing, UI/UX/collateral and so on) things.<p>Still uncertain if developer will be a founding CTO or just a contract developer. Perhaps you guys can help me with an answer for both scenarios?<p>Many thanks.
The prevailing sentiment here seems to be that in a case like yours, where the developer is clearly part of the founding tripod (business, UI/UX, backend), be prepared to treat him like a co-founder if that's what he wants. Which it sounds like he does. If you trust him enough, make him the third co-founder and split the equity evenly.
Validate if he/she's a good fit for your team first. Usually it takes time. Equity has a permanent effect and you don't want to make a decision in haste.