[legion]

It seems to me that in order for this kind of thing to succeed (and I'm not saying it can't or won't), everyone needs to have similar expectations and levels of enthusiasm--and it needs to be discussed BEFORE any agreements are entered.

Let's say that you go ahead with this and part of your informal understanding is that you keep your day job and work part time on the weekends. Your business partners work full time during the week and have no other jobs. Over time, they may feel that you aren't "working hard enough" to make the business succeed and that you happy to take the profits without doing much legwork. (And that's assuming you are profitable.) You feel that they knew what the agreement was and are changing the rules after the fact. You mutually decide that you will exit the business, and you feel you are entitled to more than your initial investment because the business is profitable. They feel you should get your initial investment back and be gone.

All I'm say is that mismatches in expectations can lead to conflict.

It can get much worse if the business is struggling. Let's say that my above scenario stands, except that the business is having difficulty. You end up plowing what money you can from your day job to keep the business afloat. You feel that you should have more control over the business because you have put the most money in (assuming initial investments were equal). Your business partners feel that while they appreciate the extra cash to keep the business going, you are becoming increasingly dictatorial and not consulting them on major decisions.

I'm also not saying that these things don't work. They do, but it takes people with compatible expectations, personalities, and methods.