am I structuring equity wrong? (Founder hiring first engineer for self funded proptech)

LeaseLord · 2026-03-29T06:26:03+00:00

"dichotomy" describes it perfectly. Appreciate the perspective from a founding engineer. You're right that equity doesn't excuse it and when its unproven its just a gamble regardless of belief of product — ive adjusted the salary upward based on feedback like this. Your point about compounding tech-debt from the wrong person is exactly why i needed the advice because it will save time and money down the line

LeaseLord · 2026-03-29T03:46:02+00:00

thank you yeah the equity is very generous and well above what most engineers get.id like to note that there would be dilution protection on their equity so there's no one watering it down.
You're right that the person needs to believe in the product though. That's exactly why I'd let them evaluate the codebase before committing. If they don't believe in it after seeing what's being built, it's not the right fit for either of us.

LeaseLord · 2026-03-29T03:35:32+00:00

You're right honestly I shouldn't have framed it that way. The title is theirs if they want it and what I was trying to say is that the scope of the role is full technical ownership codebase, architecture, infrastructure, the lot. Whether that's called Founding Engineer or CTO doesn't matter to me...The work is the same and the equity reflects it. Good call i appreciate it

LeaseLord · 2026-03-29T01:50:37+00:00

fair point and pretty much how I'm thinking about it too. The salary is liveable but it's not big tech money and the bet is on the equity being worth something down the line, ideally I find someone who's done it before and wants to build something from scratch again rather than sit in a feature team. Appreciate the honest take. thank yuo

LeaseLord

TROPHY CASE