Dear HN,<p>A couple of years ago I decided to teach myself some web development. I had a novel little idea for a website which as far as I know hadn't been done before and would be simple enough to implement, so I implemented it and learned some web development.<p>The website has been running for 2 years, during which time it has been ticking along nicely with small number of visitors. It doesn't make any money but thats OK, it wasn't the intent.<p>I have recently been contacted by a couple of guys who are starting a company with a very similar idea to mine, the difference being they seem pretty sure they have a way of monetizing it. I've met with them a couple of times and it does sound like they could pull it off. They have a lot of industry experience and contacts in the right places.<p>They are purely business people, not technical in any way so they would like to incorporate my site into their plan. For me agreeing to sign over the site to their new company I would receive a 10% stake.<p>So, the question is, what to do? I'm pretty sure I won't be able to monetize it by myself in the way they could. Having the right contacts is sometimes all you need to get ahead.
At the same time 10% seems a very low stake considering I have a working site and at this very moment all they have is an idea.
Tell them that you've actually got your own company and you'll be happy to hire them as a marketing team and give them each performance-based compensation based on the revenue they bring in for you.<p>Or, to be less inflammatory, tell them you want in. You're the one bringing IP and a customer base to the table, so you'd like to have an equity stake <i>at least</i> equivalent to theirs. Don't let anyone who may or may not have any ability to implement jerk you around.
Interesting. If I were in your position I would consider
- How much effort I've put into the project (in income opportunity cost)
- The capital they are bringing to the new company. Or, how much capital they are the capable of bringing in with their contacts.<p>I would base determining whether 10% amounts to a fair price on that.<p>If the site is simple enough to implement, I would also consider how much it would cost them to get someone else to do it. I.e. if I demand 50%, they might say "Thanks, but not thanks. we'll just pay someone else to write this for us.".<p>10% of something is better than 100% of nothing, but you don't want to be taken advantage of...
question - are we talking about you giving them the keys to your site and then walking away, not having to help, develop, or deal with the site, for 10%?