[ChefboyOG]

There is way more risk from the salesperson's side, especially if you're not divvying up shares.

If you're a salesperson looking at either taking a job at an established company with a proven product and a pipeline of leads, or a startup with no traction and no proven product, the only thing that could possibly incentivize you towards the startup would be equity and (potentially) an insane commission rate. With no equity, you're doing a much harder job with less upside and significantly more downside.

[gnicholas]

Someone who is looking for job flexibility would prefer the startup setup, where you can test the waters and see how it goes. As for the commission rate, I think most early startups would be willing to give a very high rate, especially to a salesperson who can operate independently and who has industry contacts. They wouldn't really care if that person worked full-time or not, so long as they could bring in leads and help close sales. In software, the margins are so high that you could give a very high commission on all of your early sales, knowing that your later/larger sales wouldn't be affected.