
Convincing a programmer to work for a startup for 0 salary and 0 equity? - Anilm3
https://www.quora.com/How-likely-is-it-that-I-will-be-able-to-convince-a-really-good-programmer-to-work-for-my-startup-for-0-salary-and-0-equity?share=1
======
greenyoda
If there's no salary or equity being offered, the company wouldn't be able to
sign a binding contract with the programmer, since they'd be offering them
nothing in return for their work (no "consideration"[1]). Thus, there would be
no "work for hire" agreement, and the programmer, not the startup, would own
all the intellectual property they created.

Also, if it's a for-profit business, paying zero salary for useful work would
be violating federal and state minimum wage laws (in the U.S.).

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration)

------
marssaxman
This question is less absurd than it sounds. You just need to find someone who
is both talented and lucky enough to have already made all the money they will
ever need to live on, and whose biggest challenge in life is that of finding
something meaningful to do with their time. You get them to work for free by
offering something they can't just buy: work they are personally interested in
doing which is aligned with their sense of meaning. The pitch is that you will
do the work they don't want to do, you will put together the support team and
infrastructure they need, and in exchange for their time and experience you
will be giving them an opportunity for autonomy and accomplishment which is
greater than what they could reach on their own.

The secret many people haven't realized is that this situation effectively
holds for talented programmers even when you _are_ offering a salary: offering
a salary broadens the pool of talented programmers who can afford to accept
your offer, which is important, but it also clouds the issue by mixing in an
extrinsic motivation for doing the work, which is not correlated with skill.

