By Bob Meyer

Bartering one’s professional services for an equity position in a young, publicly-traded company can pay big dividends, or turn into a dud. But the chances for outstanding success are possible, which is not the case in the normal course of business (when receiving a check for your efforts).

This story illustrates the dilemma one faces when bartering for equity.


The Venture Law Group, which helps launch startup internet companies like Yahoo, eToys, and Netcentives, received up to 5% of a company’s equity in exchange for their professional services.


Chairman Craig Johnson said they owned 1% of Yahoo, but sold the shares for $2 each…shortly before Yahoo’s public offering. Now, Johnson laments, “If only we had held it!” Yahoo’s market value is now $37 billion, so that 1% interest would be worth a cool $370 million!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Best & Brightest Barter, Marketing, Purchasing & Financing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.