"In real companies, you would have to work 4 years to get that kind of equity."
When Billy builds a "real company" he can make those kinds of deals with developers. Right now, Billy has nothing like a real company. He has an idea, no ability to execute by himself, and a 50% partner who also can't execute said idea.
Startups are not real companies, and equity for working on a startup is very different than equity for working on a real company.
A real company also expects to pay market rates for developers. So, by that metric Billy should have been paying these developers $50-$150/hour (depending on market, experience, etc.) for these 20-30 hours worth of work, if they were contractors rather than employees. It sounds like at least some of the team has enough experience to be on the high end of the rate scale, and if they actually delivered some sort of working prototype in that time, they certainly delivered value.
When Billy builds a "real company" he can make those kinds of deals with developers. Right now, Billy has nothing like a real company. He has an idea, no ability to execute by himself, and a 50% partner who also can't execute said idea.
Startups are not real companies, and equity for working on a startup is very different than equity for working on a real company.
A real company also expects to pay market rates for developers. So, by that metric Billy should have been paying these developers $50-$150/hour (depending on market, experience, etc.) for these 20-30 hours worth of work, if they were contractors rather than employees. It sounds like at least some of the team has enough experience to be on the high end of the rate scale, and if they actually delivered some sort of working prototype in that time, they certainly delivered value.