Advisor / Equity Warrants
You are pre-PMF, your cash is for engineering and runway, and you want a credible growth operator on the cap table instead of another invoice. I advise on growth and marketing strategy in exchange for equity warrants at pre-seed and seed stage.
Said plainly so neither of us wastes a call. This is not execution. I do not run your ads, write your copy, manage your team, or build your attribution stack. This is not a fractional engagement, where I am embedded 20 hours a week owning the number. And this is not operator tier. If you need any of that, you need an operator, not an advisor. Start at fractional CMO for AI startups or fractional head of growth.
Sized to stage and scope. Pre-seed sits at the higher end, seed at the lower, reflecting the risk and the hours.
Monthly vesting over the term so the grant tracks the work actually delivered, not a one-time gift.
Unvested warrants accelerate if the company is acquired during the term. Standard, founder-friendly.
FAST template or equivalent, with my usual modifications. No bespoke legal marathon.
If your cap table is locked, a board will not approve new advisor grants, or you simply prefer to pay cash, the same scope is available on a cash retainer of $3,000 to $5,000 per month. Same 2-4 hours, same quarterly deep dive, same async access. The structure follows your constraints, not the other way around.
Advisor tier is for strategy, not execution. The moment your weekly growth load crosses 15 hours, or you cross PMF and the bottleneck shifts from clarity to execution speed, you need someone embedded. That is fractional CMO for AI startups or fractional head of growth. Roughly 30% to 40% of advisor clients convert up to a fractional engagement within 6 to 12 months. That is the intended path, not a failure of the advisor relationship.
I work off the Founder Institute FAST agreement (Founder Institute FAST) or an equivalent advisor grant, with a small set of standard modifications: monthly vesting, single-trigger acceleration on acquisition, and a clean termination clause. For benchmark grant sizes by stage, Carta publishes data on advisor equity (Carta on advisor equity). The goal is a signature in a week, not a legal project.
Yes, if you have closed pre-seed or seed. No, if you are pre-incorporation or idea-stage. Equity at zero funding is a lottery ticket, not compensation, and I will not pretend otherwise.
I accept 0.25% to 1% in warrants, sized to stage and scope, over a 1 to 2 year vest with single-trigger acceleration on exit. Pre-seed sits at the higher end, seed lower.
I am one. I take equity warrants at pre-seed and seed for Israeli and international startups, with a cnvrg.io and Elementor track record on the cap table when investors ask who is advising you.
Board meeting attendance is optional and included when a marketing voice in the room helps the round or the next raise. I am not taking a formal board seat; I attend as an advisor.
2 to 4 hours per month, plus one quarterly deep dive and async access between sessions. If you need more, you need an operator, not an advisor.
Then we go cash: $3,000 to $5,000 per month for the same scope. The structure follows your constraints.
The Founder Institute FAST agreement or an equivalent advisor grant, with standard modifications: monthly vesting, single-trigger acceleration, clean termination. Signature in about a week.
When your weekly growth load crosses 15 hours or you cross PMF and the bottleneck becomes execution speed. Roughly 30-40% of advisor clients convert up within 6 to 12 months.
Yes, if a round has closed. Pre-revenue is fine; pre-funding is not. The filter is closed capital, not revenue.
A fractional CMO is embedded 20 hours a week owning the number and executing. This is 2-4 hours a month of strategy and decision support. Different scope, different price, different structure.
Book a 15-min call. I will tell you if I am a fit and what terms I would accept. From $1.5K/mo cash, or 0.25% to 1% equity warrant.