Should I take equity or cash from an indie founder?
Short answer
Most early arrangements are some mix, and cash matters more than founders like to admit — equity in a pre-revenue product is a lottery ticket with a multi-year expiry. A common shape is a modest retainer that covers your time plus a meaningful equity or revenue-share component that pays if it works. Take pure equity only when you believe in it enough to treat the cash as gone.
The longer version
This question comes up inside a longer piece on the same problem. If the short answer above raised more questions than it settled, the full article has the reasoning behind it.
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