I understand your position. But the negotiation part is crucial to your decision. If you &quot;just&quot; a CTO for the startup, then I would follow the more common advice around here to reject it. Even though the experience might be valid, without the funding you wouldn&#x27;t even get that, like hiring and managing other engineers - and trust me, if the founder said May, it will probably come in August at most. And if the startup is successfull you won&#x27;t get the financial reward you deserve. So good experience is your upside.<p>BUT... if you become a Founder, a proper one, reflected in serious equity, not a BS job title, then it is very different. According to YC, less than 10% (before any funding) they don&#x27;t even consider you a founder. So I would negotiate participation between a minimum of 10% and a maximum of being equal any other founder.<p>My opinion would be: founder or nothing. But I don&#x27;t think it is irrational if the decision is: accepting the CTO role, gambling with the funding and considering experience a worthy outcome in the worst case.