If you join a start-up and get your full pay, then it is just a job and you are just an employee. If you don't get full pay, then guess what? You're an angel investor! And to protect yourself and get a fair shake of the deal, then you need to think like an angel investor.
Being an angel investor is more of an art than a science, and it takes years of experience and a multitude of mistakes to know what to look for. I generally look at these two things first:
The first thing to look for as an angel is look at who is driving the ship and how they respond to advice and criticism. You can learn a lot by attacking the person driving the ship from a critical stand-point. Do they get angry? Do they deflect? Are they blinded by their product? Are they objective? Do they hear you out? Do they counter? How they react to you is indicative of how they will react to other angel investors and venture capitalists who will ask much more invasion questions than you will ever have the balls to ask.
The second thing to look for is a hacker (and this could be you); if they don't have a hacker and you're not it, then I would walk away from the deal. It's going to fail.
Finally, as an angel, you should figure out what that means. Start exploring today
I have more to say on this, and I will write more over time on this subject since I find start-ups as the funnest place to be.
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