I'm concerned about giving away too much of the company because that might hamper my ability to give out equity for other positions in the company in the future. I'm also concerned that if I give out equity incorrectly it might scare away investors or companies looking to acquire my company in the future.
Would something like offering an engineer 4% of the company per year be reasonable (capped at 12% ownership after 3 years)? I'm also not sure how a cliff would work in this situation. Maybe a 3 month cliff where I could fire them without giving them any equity if they end up not delivering at all? I'm not hoping to fire anyone, but I would be hiring people I don't know, so I need some kind of cliff.
Here are a few more details that might be helpful. My company is a California LLC with a single owner. No investor money has been raised to date. Unfortunately, I'm not friends with any engineers, so I can't just bring on my friends. The company is truly broke, so I basically need an under $100 solution for this. Something like paying $40 for a month long subscription with RocketLawyer.com is what I'd be looking for. Thanks!
You sound like you need a co-founder, not a part-time equity-based engineer. And at that point, the legal logistics of figuring out the equity are something you can pursue together.