This is where my other rule comes in: "I am either a freelancer or a cofounder".
To be your cofounder you must also convince me that this project is something I want to spend the next several years of my life on and it must be great enough to convince me to drop other projects and start working on this full time. I don't believe in part-time cofounders, that way lies burnout and failed projects.
And despite all that, equity still isn't tasty so I will need to earn at least some of my normal rate anyway.
Would you ever consider being a cofounder before the MVC is built?
I guess you're saying that you'll only build MVCs for cash, but then will consider joining as a cofounder afterward if the project looks promising and you can work out a fair equity agreement?
I guess it depends. I usually have enough of my own pre-MVP projects that would love some attention and often some that are MVP's and would also require attention.
But building a MVP together before jumping into a full blown partnership is also rather important in terms of finding whether there's a general fit in working together, you're actually able to deliver on the non-technical aspects of the project and so on ... MVP's are also incredibly good at confirming assumptions about the market.
To be your cofounder you must also convince me that this project is something I want to spend the next several years of my life on and it must be great enough to convince me to drop other projects and start working on this full time. I don't believe in part-time cofounders, that way lies burnout and failed projects.
And despite all that, equity still isn't tasty so I will need to earn at least some of my normal rate anyway.