I am lucky to have a network of friends that have excellent connections for funding through family and work. Recently they have approached me to co-found a startup catering primarily to legal advisory firms.<p>They are certainly friends, but are not the most disciplined or experienced business people. They have a primarily legal background, so I don't think they've worked on a software development project before. And their attitude is 'funding first, business plan after,' which immediately sets off a red flag in my mind. Basically, I question their ability to found and grow a company successfully.<p>They have access to a few hundred thousand dollars (possibly more down the road) in funding and the support of some 'heavy hitting' business people, including the CMO of one of the <i>major</i> airline ticketing sites on the web. (I am going to leave out the name of the company for their own privacy).<p>My question is: is it worth jumping on to this project for the networking opportunities, the increased pay, and the obvious freedoms from a 9-5, even though I do not necessarily have faith in the idea or people? Who you know is a lot more valuable than what you know, especially as you get higher up in business, and I would love to be able to incorporate the 'heavy hitters' into my network for future advice or funding for a personal project. At the same time, I am horrified of dealing with a group of people who don't know what they're doing for six months, only to realize that the entire project has been a naive waste of time.<p>As a note, I am pretty happy with my 9-5 job right now ... it is rewarding and I am paid well (although I would ask for much more to join the startup), but there is no chance of me becoming a 'heavy hitter' there in the next three years or so.<p>Thanks in advance for your feedback.