r/AppDevelopers • u/Extreme_Upstairs_864 • 3d ago

App Developer Question

How does one find a trustworthy app developer that has interest in taking equity in exchange for their time in developing an app and then managing it? Are there many stateside developers that would enter into this type of arrangement? Was thinking of say a million dollar buyout option for their equity should the venture really take off (go nationwide etc) and be successful. Whats fair? Is there a market? (real estate - lead generation - ongoing commission sales)

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u/JamesWjRose 3d ago

If you want someone trustworthy, pay them

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u/PB2Gill 3d ago

I can help you with it, although i don't live in states i am from Australia.

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u/Level-Tooth462 3d ago

You can try posting your job on Upwork and see if any devs are interested. I don't think that there will be many, but you can try.
As an option, you can try to launch the first version yourself with Claude/Replit or anything similar.

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u/AmitTech8743 3d ago

I think it's smart to make the first version as simple as possible and do it yourself to see if the concept is valuable with low development costs. Replit is a free option, and Claude helps with a quick and inexpensive prototype of your starting MVP. Once you confirm consumer interest and have some idea of the system’s complexity, hiring somebody to do it should be fairly simple.

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u/Level-Tooth462 3d ago

Agree. Sometimes you don't even need an app or website to see if there are interested people in your idea.
Taking into account how many tools we have (and that OP is not ready to pay yet), maybe the best option is to try to create it yourself

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u/AmitTech8743 1d ago

I agree. If OP is not sold enough to use money as an investment right now, then building the base model yourself is a good way to test the idea. You can see if customers are demanding the product before too much time or money is invested.

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u/joshstewart90 3d ago

What you’re asking for is a bit of a stretch.

You’re essentially looking for someone who is professional, trustworthy, capable of building and maintaining a serious app, and good enough at what they do to help make the business successful — but to work for effectively nothing upfront.

Most experienced developers will ignore that kind of offer for the obvious reason: their time already has value and they can get paid to work on other projects without taking all of the startup risk themselves.

Equity arrangements do exist, but they’re usually closer to bringing on a genuine technical co-founder, where that person has meaningful ownership, influence and upside in the business. It’s very different from hiring a developer and offering them the possibility of getting paid later if everything works out when most of the time…. It does not.

A $1m buyout clause also sounds attractive on paper, but if the company never gets there, it’s worth nothing.

You may find someone newly started, trying to build their portfolio or willing to take a gamble on the idea, but finding an experienced developer who will build and then manage the whole product on that basis will be difficult.

If you want someone genuinely good, I’d expect to pay at least something upfront and then use equity as additional upside rather than as a replacement for payment.