[tptacek]

Everything about this plan is crazy talk.

(1), a professional design job for a template costs $1000-$3000. You're setting your valuation at 20-30k?

(2), the equity you're offering isn't worth anything. In practical terms, all you're offering is the opportunity for a designer to work on contingency. They don't like that.

If you really want to give up almost as much equity as a CEO takes 2 years in, or almost as much equity as YC takes up front, don't trade it for a design; find a partner who can do solid design.