How to ask a friend to become a working partner in his company??

[nicholasfia]

Hello All,

This is my first post here, and I'm happy and appreciative in advance of your comments.

To keep my background brief, I have a marketing background, specifically internet marketing (paid ads, seo), as well as some website design and development project management.

Now, to my question:

I have a good friend that recently started a business mirroring the groupon model (yes, one of those!). It's a small company; he's sales, marketing, website manager, etc. He recently partnered with a company that will assist with marketing efforts, which can potentially boost his sales. He approached me (as I've been assiting him with guidance in marketing) to see if I would be interested in taking over FULL management of the site.

He proposed an hourly rate or per project rate, but I'm open to actually working on the site for a percentage. Is this out of line? He's texted me a few time looking for my proposal, and I've been a bit cagey about answering, saying "I'm definitely interested, just need to put some thought into it".

Facts:

Currently, they're only signing up 7-10 busineses per month - but there's potential growth in the future.
Site can use a re-build, which I'm happy to do for free as part of a partnership agreement
The amount I would charge per hour might be too much for him based on what I would need to make it WORTH IT to me - assuming I did not get a percentage of the company.
I have no idea how much rev he's doing yet.

Overall, I would love some guidance on how to approach this. I love helping out friends, but as we all know, it can sometimes head down the wrong path.

How would some of your approach this?
What would be a good proposal for a percentage of the company?

I assistance or guidance is appreciated!

Thanks all!

 

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