Will Work for Pie: Building Your Startup Using Equity Instead of Cash (Mike Moyer's Virtual Dojo) Paperback – May 17, 2021

Let's start with who doesn't need this book. You don't need this book if you're funding your startup with your own money, and you're funding it with so much money that you can afford to pay everyone their fair market salaries and bonuses – including big bonuses for outstanding employees – you're extremely fair with your cash and pay everyone what they're worth. For everyone else starting a business, there are moments where people contribute more than what they're paid. But they're not doing it for charity. You need a way to fairly compensate them because you want them to keep contributing and you may not be able to compensate them for a few years. Slicing Pie provides the formula to do solve this challenge using your company's equity. The formula is rooted in years of practical knowledge and thinking (i.e. a company needs to be able to hit its own revenue goals all throughout the process to prove its "credit worthy" to its equity holders.). This book contains deeply researched and practiced strategies to help you compensate your top talent and keep them moving your business forward.

While on a call with Mike, he recommended this book for more insight into determining fair market value for jobs. Unfortunately, I found no such insights. There was a very brief section on intellectual property and "gigs," but nothing substantial that wasn't addressed in his other book – which he directs you to several times saying, "for a more in depth look..." But... that's why I'm HERE.I would still recommend his other book Slicing Pie. However, Will Work for Pie was .99 cents at the time of purchase and not worth a penny more.

I have been using the principles of Mike Moyer's Slicing Pie model for startup legal clients for several years. I can state without a doubt that Mike Moyer is the authority on startup equity allocation and recovery. Mike's model has changed the lives of countless startup founders. Will Work for Pie is a welcome addition to the Slicing Pie series and receives my highest recommendation.

TThis book helped Me by giving good examples of practically applying the concept of Mike's original but slicing pie.

I implemented this method with a contractor to be partner, and he ended up suing me when I didn't agree to his "slices" of the pie. I paid the contractor full market rate for all of his services, and he wanted me to consider his rent and employee costs as his "debt contribution" to the company. Essentially, he was trying to double-dip. He cited this book in-particular, and said I owed him for all of his operating costs as equity. WTF? Anyways, this book is a poison pill, and you should stay very far away from it if you wish to build a sustainable, profitable business.

Excellent tool for bootstrap entrepreneurs! Moyer provides a framework for allocating ownership to keep stakeholders involved and motivated to see an enterprise succeed, while at the same time converting that limited resource, cash!