<human>: Hey Reddit, long time lurker, first time poster. It is *damn* hard to find a unique name for a throwaway account.

Anyway: I've been approached by someone who already owns an offline business and has an idea for a startup.

The problem is, the idea is a clone of an already hugely-successful site, with a couple of differentiating twists. Said person has even gone so far as to purchase a (poorly-written) PHP package that emulates the functionality of that site. I would be modifying the code to suit their needs and implement the "twists."

We've talked a few times about it but not directly about payment. It seems to be becoming assumed that I would work for equity in the company.

I'm not sure about this because I feel that the market for this type of site is saturated, and I'm concerned that the proprietor isn't savvy enough about online business to succeed.

I see two scenarios if I agree to such an arrangement:

1. The company is reasonably successful, is acquired and I am paid my percentage.

2. The company fails and I get nothing for my time.

One more detail I should mention is that I work for myself and thus all of my time is valuable. I don't have hours and hours with nothing better to do like I would if I had a 9-5 job.

Right now I'm leaning towards declining the equity and seeing if I can work for cash, at my usual rate. This would be a lot easier if I had a good lawyer to talk to, because I have no idea what risk I would be putting myself at or what would be entailed if I took the equity offer instead.

Can you succinctly summarize the text in 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: I've been offered equity in a startup which is a near-clone of a very successful site, and I'm not sure whether to accept the risk and take it, or demand cash for my time instead.