Hi guys,

 

Have you ever worked for free or for a stake in the company?

 

How did things worked out? Was it a good co-operation or a nightmare?

 

Tell me everything..

 

Mike

Never worked for free or for equity, but I've worked for those sort of people and given some hefty discounts. The result? The client didn't respect the value of my work because they weren't paying enough for it.

 

I'd strongly advise you not to.

I'd strongly advise you not to.

 

Ditto.

 

"As a general rule, if they are going to make money out of work you are doing for free, steer clear!"

(Collis Ta'eed)

Actually, I am not a webdeveloper myself but a 'client' who is starting a project with a webdeveloper who is given

me a discount for a stake in the project. But I am not sure if I will go ahead..maybe it's better to pay him the full price.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Mike

I have done work for equity before BUT i knew the people already and knew the idea was good and/or done work for free knowing that the work would increase my exposure in a good way and lead to rewards.

 

Also any time i have worked for equity, we have drawn up proper legally binding paperwork!

 

In your case you are better off paying full price and that leaves you a nice clean pallet to play with and the freedom to work with other designers and developers.

I have done work for equity before BUT i knew the people already and knew the idea was good and/or done work for free knowing that the work would increase my exposure in a good way and lead to rewards.

 

Also any time i have worked for equity, we have drawn up proper legally binding paperwork!

 

In your case you are better off paying full price and that leaves you a nice clean pallet to play with and the freedom to work with other designers and developers.

 

In my case, I don't know the person (he is not a friend) and he is located in another country. A legally binding paperwork would be great to start with. As you said, paying the full price gives you the freedom.

 

Thanks!

In my case, I don't know the person (he is not a friend) and he is located in another country. A legally binding paperwork would be great to start with. As you said, paying the full price gives you the freedom.

 

Thanks!

 

Haha yeah probably best to go for a full pay option then. It's VERY RARE for any other way to make sense.

Arguably the biggest problem faced by web designers are not the shifting sands graphical 'coolness' or the mercurial flux of web standards in the underlying code behind the screen but the clients themselves. Some form of contract is always advisable detailing what your role as the designer entails and what is expected from the client. Otherwise what starts as a nice two week project becomes a millstone about your neck for months to come.

I agree that communication between webdesigner and client is the main obstacle. As you mention, a contract describing what is expected from both the client and webdesigner should help eliminate some problems, but not all of them.

 

Let me ask you another question?

 

What makes you, as a webdesigner/developer want to work for free or equity?

 

The idea, the clients, exposure for your work....

 

What makes you, as a webdesigner/developer want to work for free or equity?

 

 

In a nutshell... Greed.

The frustration of being able to smell the money but not quite get your hands on it.

In a nutshell... Greed.

The frustration of being able to smell the money but not quite get your hands on it.

 

You'd work for free because of greed?

You're doing it wrong!

 

Good reason to work for free are that you want to be a part of a project that interests you, can benefit you or you know it would help someone out that you want to help.

 

Reason for working for equity are you know the payback will at least cover your fee plus compensation for the wait for payment.

Hi guys,

 

Have you ever worked for free or for a stake in the company?

 

How did things worked out? Was it a good co-operation or a nightmare?

 

Tell me everything..

 

Mike

 

No, I've heard its really common but nobody has ever asked me to work for free/equity.

In a nutshell... Greed.

The frustration of being able to smell the money but not quite get your hands on it.

 

I'm not sure if greed is the right motivator. At the end you must like the project/idea, the people you work with etc.

Atleast, that is my opinion :-). I'm sure everybody has his/her reason.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

I have definitely made my decision......I will pay the designer in full.

If things don't work out as expected (idea fails), atleast he get paid for his time.

 

Mike

Never worked for free or for equity, but I've worked for those sort of people and given some hefty discounts. The result? The client didn't respect the value of my work because they weren't paying enough for it.

 

I'd strongly advise you not to.

 

That's certainly a risk. We've done some probono work for some non-profits before, but they all had tech backgrounds and we defined a strict scope.

 

AKA, we never got a "let's just do a quick redesign and then we'll be done."

 

The work was all specified ahead of time, and they went to great lengths to thank us and spread the word about our assistance.

 

I do advise you tread carefully though. Both for free and equity based work. There are many more nightmares than success stories in this arena...

Nope, would never work for free or take equity in a project.