Equity Partnership
Cash-Light. Risk-Free Hiring.

For pre-seed and seed life sciences AI founders who need a world-class team without burning through runway. Keep your cash for what matters most, building something that changes medicine, while the right people rally around your vision.

Embedded + Equity

All Embedded benefits included. Your investors see a lean burn rate. Your pipeline keeps advancing. And the people joining your team? They're there because they believe in the same mission you do.

Why We Offer Equity Partnerships

Imagine a recruiting partner whose success is tied directly to yours. When your therapeutic pipeline advances, when your Series A lands, when your first IND gets filed, that's a shared win.

Traditional Recruiter Incentives:

  • Get paid once, then move on
  • Don't stick around to see if the hire works out
  • Focused on filling seats, not building teams
  • No real stake in your long-term success

What This Means for Your Startup:

  • Every hire strengthens the team that carries your vision forward
  • Your runway stretches further without sacrificing talent quality
  • Pivots and breakthroughs happen with the right people already in place
  • Your board sees disciplined spending and a world-class team forming

Who Qualifies for Equity Partnership?

This partnership works best for founders with a clear vision and real momentum. If that's you, the path to building your founding AI team just got a lot lighter on cash.

5 Qualification Criteria

You MUST Have:

  • Pre-seed or seed stage funding/traction: You've raised capital OR have meaningful revenue/users
  • Life sciences AI-first company (not "adding AI features"): AI is your core product for drug discovery, target validation, or compound library optimization, not a nice-to-have feature
  • Commitment to 3+ hires in 6-12 months: You're building a team, not making one-off hires
  • Cap table transparency + vesting agreement: We see your cap table and agree on vesting terms
  • Strong growth potential in healthcare: Clear path to preclinical validation, regulatory pathway approval, or care delivery impact.

You DON'T Qualify If:

  • You're bootstrapped with no funding plan
  • AI is just a feature, not your core business
  • You need 1-2 hires total (use contingent tier)
  • You can't share cap table details
  • Your market is too niche or unclear
  • You're hiring for non-AI roles only

Not Sure If You Qualify?

Let's chat. We'll be straight with you about whether equity partnership makes sense, or if another option is a better fit.

Book Eligibility Call →

What Changes for You From Day One

From day one, your founding team starts taking shape. Three embedded services working behind the scenes so you can stay focused on the science, the product, and the investors.

Team achieving results and making an impact from day one

Global Chief AI Talent Officer

Your vision gets translated into a precise hiring strategy. The team that forms around you is engineered to carry that vision forward, data-driven, not guesswork.

What this means: Vision mapping, three-layer alignment validation, ongoing strategy for contract-based clients

AI Talent Acquisition Specialist

The computational chemists and clinical AI engineers who join your company arrive culture-matched and technically proven. These are people who make your founding team stronger, not just bigger.

What this means: Global talent sourcing, three-layer validation system, proof-of-work on your problems

Relocation & EOR Specialist

Hire the best person regardless of where they live. All the compliance, paperwork, and logistics across 150+ countries are handled, so your focus stays on welcoming a new team member and shipping product.

What this means: EOR services for remote hires, and if your perfect hire needs to relocate, we'll help them settle in

PLUS: Startup-Specific Support

  • Dedicated AI Success Manager with 30/60/90-day check-ins
  • Compensation structuring to compete with Big Tech on limited budget
  • Culture development support from day one
  • 90–120 day replacement guarantee

Want the full picture? Let's hop on a call. We'd love to walk you through how we'd support your team from Series A milestones through regulatory pathway planning.

How the Equity Partnership Works

Totally transparent, no surprises. Structured so your cap table stays clean, your board stays comfortable, and your runway stays long.

Five diverse hands giving thumbs up in a professional business setting, partnership and success

Financial Structure

  • Monthly fee + equity: No financial commission per hire
  • Vests over 2-4 years with standard 1-year cliff
  • Standard stock options with market terms

Legal Requirements

  • Cap table transparency: We'll review your cap table together so terms feel fair and clear for everyone
  • Stock option agreement: Standard vesting terms
  • Service agreement: 12-month minimum commitment
  • Hiring volume commitment: 3+ hires in first 6-12 months
  • Board approval: Your board signs off on equity grant
  • Information rights: We get standard investor updates

How to Get Started

In 2-3 weeks, your talent strategy is live and your founding team starts coming together

Small team in bright office with remote participant on screen, discussing partnership kick-off
1

Eligibility Call

What happens: Share where you are, where you're headed, what you need, and your cap table structure. Get honest feedback on whether equity partnership accelerates your hiring plan.

Duration: 45-60 minutes

Outcome: Clarity on whether this path gets your founding team in place faster and leaner

2

Due Diligence

What happens: We dig into your pitch deck, cap table, hiring plan, and market opportunity, because we want to understand your world and your regulatory pathway.

Duration: 3-5 days

Outcome: We'll share our honest take and propose equity terms

3

Terms Negotiation

What happens: We finalize retainer, equity percentage, vesting schedule, and hiring commitments.

Duration: 1 week

Outcome: Draft agreement ready for legal review

4

Legal & Onboarding

What happens: Both sides' lawyers review. Board approves. Then a discovery deep-dive into your vision, product roadmap, and culture.

Duration: 1 week

Outcome: Partnership is live, and the search for your founding team begins immediately

Frequently Asked Questions

What if we raise a big round and can afford standard fees?

The equity is permanent. There's no buyout provision. If you raise Series A or beyond, we get to share in that success with you. That's the whole point.

How do you value our equity?

We use your last funding round valuation or negotiate a fair strike price based on comparables. We genuinely want terms that feel right for both of us.

What if we can't hit the 3+ hire commitment?

The partnership calls for 3+ hires within the agreed timeframe. If things change (startups, right?), we'll talk through it together, but equity already granted stays permanent.

Do you take a board seat or voting rights?

Not at all. We're your talent partners, not investors. No board seat, no votes, no control. Just genuine support for your growth.

What happens if we get acquired or go public?

Standard liquidity provisions apply. Acquisition or IPO, our options vest per the agreed schedule.

Can we start with equity and switch to standard later?

Future hires can move to standard embedded terms if your cash position improves. Equity already granted is permanent.

How many equity partnerships do you accept?

We're thoughtful about this, because our success genuinely depends on yours. We look at growth potential, market opportunity, founding team, and hiring needs to make sure we can truly help.

What if the startup doesn't work out?

If the startup doesn't work out, we lose too, and we feel it. That's exactly why we only say yes to companies we truly believe in.

Let's See If This Makes Sense for Both of Us

45-minute conversation, no pressure. Walk away knowing exactly how to stretch your runway while assembling the founding team your investors will be impressed by.

Not sure you qualify? Check out our other pricing options