Ask HN: Rewarding someone with SAFE-style equity
A friend of mine, who doesn't have the financial resources to invest himself, has gone over and above in helping us, awake at odd hours of the night, demoing our technology to friends of his in the VC world. This has been done on the basis of friendship, without any expectation of a return.
One of those demos he did has materialized into a large investment, and to show my gratitude, I would like to give my friend some equity in the company, as a percentage of the money the VC invested.
To use round math, assume the VC invested $1m. I'd like to give him 1%, i.e. 10K, as an investment in the company, on the same terms. Think of it as a referral fee.
What's the correct legal way to handle this? Ideally, one that doesn't involve lawyers and lots of customized paperwork.
I don't want to part with cash right now, and would prefer to give him equity, so he feels invested in our success. The Y-Combinator SAFE document captures the essence of how I'd like to consider the 10K, but doesn't feel suitable as-is, because it's written with the assumption that money is changing hands.
I'd appreciate any advice and links to forms, etc.