The FAST Agreement, or the Founder Advisor Standard Template, is a good draft for Founders to use while thinking of the terms to engage an Advisor or Mentor on.
It helps think through the number of hours you want an Advisor to devote, milestones and deliverables for them to help with, and how their compensation should be structured in the form of Restricted Shares, Phantom Stock, or Share Appreciation Rights.
Such equity compensation varies for every stage of a startup, and you'd hope you haven't promised someone a great chunk of equity without having clearly established a working relationship over a period of time.
For example, if an advisor provides an early-stage startup with an expert level of help by meeting with the team monthly, recruiting some talent, and taking a customer call, then that advisor will earn 1% of the company in the form of restricted stock or options vesting over a two year time period; while a similar level of engagement for a growth stage company is compensated with just 0.6%.
FAST Agreement: https://fi.co/fast
