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.
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 at least equivalent to theirs. Don't let anyone who may or may not have any ability to implement jerk you around.
Agreed. Business folk tend to think that the technical side of their plans is the easy part, when it's usually the other way around: business plans are a dime a dozen, but a flawed technical execution will kill any business plan (see Cuil, for example).
Plus, from the business/legal perspective: you have all the valuable assets. They have...nothing. You're making the only capital contribution to this company...that means, you own 100% of the company unless they put their own cash in (services rendered don't count as capital contributions).
Comments
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.
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 at least equivalent to theirs. Don't let anyone who may or may not have any ability to implement jerk you around.
Agreed. Business folk tend to think that the technical side of their plans is the easy part, when it's usually the other way around: business plans are a dime a dozen, but a flawed technical execution will kill any business plan (see Cuil, for example).
Plus, from the business/legal perspective: you have all the valuable assets. They have...nothing. You're making the only capital contribution to this company...that means, you own 100% of the company unless they put their own cash in (services rendered don't count as capital contributions).