If you are a web developer then you have no doubt rolled your eyes more than once at a suggestion by some wannabe entrepreneur like me that you should work on his brilliant idea for equity. We all know what your answer was – naff off or some less polite variation of the phrase. That was certainly the sort of response I got.

So now I get it, you developers are the salt of the earth and your time is worth more than any half-baked idea could possibly offer. Be that as it may, there is obviously quite some demand for this sort of thing and what follows is a suggestion for how both parties might meet half way.
So my idea is for a unique marketplace that brings people with knowledge together with people in search of it. I know there are many of these but this will have the following key differentiators or unique selling points.

1.  Learning will be project based in that a pupil will be able to propose a project that they wish to accomplish and tutors will bid to guide them through it. My thinking here is that if I want to learn Ruby on Rails for examples, I may have a project in mind that I want to use it for. I am likely to learn better by working on a project but even more so if that project is my great and brilliant start-up idea. For pupils without project ideas or tutors that prefer to work with their own projects, tutors will also be able to define standard projects that they prefer to use in their lessons.

2. Pupils and tutors will have the option of paying and accepting payments respectively in equity instead of cash or part equity part cash. The difference between this and the often frowned upon request to work for equity is one of time. It is one thing to be asked to work full time on and take responsibility for developing an application; it is quite another thing to be asked to guide someone through doing it. The difference as I say is one of time I think. The latter should take less time. The tutor will review the project, devise a plan for the pupil and prepare lessons or gather text or relevant examples for each lesson in the plan. Basically, the tutor will tell the pupil what to do and offer text, examples and general guidance on how to do it. Bids will include how long the tutor thinks the project will take, how much they will charge and how involved they will get etc.

3. The marketplace could also offer pupils the option of charging fees back to their employers who will in turn have the ability to approve or reject project proposals as they may want to insist on the projects being of some benefit to the company. This feature would not have to be available at launch if at all but it could help the marketplace gain traction. I envision companies becoming more willing to allow their employees to do side projects and gain knowledge in doing so, as part of their development plans etc. Rather than actively market to enterprises though, their employees could do the job for you.

So what do you think? Is it feasible, would you use it, will you build it (for equity?)? By the way, if you don’t buy the pay by equity feature, what do you think of this as a cash-only marketplace? Oh and one last thing, the marketplace will of course make money by taking a share in cash payments or a no-loss stake in resulting start-ups for equity payments.