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Comment by calcsam | Hacker News Reader

What do you want to achieve?

(1) Learn more about the startup world (2) Help out some startups (3) Business development for new clients when they raise $ and can afford you.

The answer will depend on which one you're aiming for. My guess is that -- depending on how early the startups you're working with would be -- technical founders would end up looking to you as advisor on topics like negotiation, business development, and fundraising, rather than strictly legal advice. Generally after you help a startup 2-3 times they should give you some equity as an advisor.

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Fair questions- I should have been more specific (and that will be part of my own thoughts once I have a few more replies). To be honest, I want to achieve all of those. 3) may not be that likely as they already have very well established legal counsel, though it is obviously still potentially there as an option and was how I started giving them a bit of help...

Also true that they weren't necessarily looking for strictly legal help but more analytical / advisory as you suggest.... so on that basis, what do you think?

> they already have very well established legal counsel

If that's the case, why are they asking you for help? Either their existing counsel is bad or they don't want to pay.

Maybe if they are looking for advice around some of the things that aren't strictly legal (e.g. negotiation), that makes sense. I agree with another comment that after about 2-3 times, it's probably worth sitting down and offering your services as a true advisor and the rewards/responsibilities that come with that.

Yeah - I think it is a combination of money and not strictly legal.... but what does 2/3 times mean? Reviewing an investor deck might take me 20/30 mins... it's not really a big deal. Advising on a contract is obviously a much bigger deal...

The "It's only a few hours" argument points both ways. It's only a few hours so paying you for your time shouldn't pose much of a hardship. And whatever it is or isn't, it's lawyer time and if things go sidewise calling it "analytic/advisory" may not mean it's not legal advice with all the responsibility and duties that entails.

I should also ask, what qualifies as "help 2 or 3 times" and what kind of equity would you envisage? (I know it is highly dependent on multiple factors, but I am curious for people's experiences...)

Jason Lemkin does a pretty good job here:

http://www.saastr.com/on-paying-your-mentors-and-advisors-th...

You're probably thinking, as you're accustomed, about your time in units of billable hours. You may want to reframe that in terms like those Lemkin describes. If introductions are not really your currency, an actionable breakthrough communicated might be. Or a fundraising / sales deck you review & provide detailed feedback on.

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