I've had many "Advisors" over the years and I like to break them up into 2 groups.

1) Formal Advisors

These are people who strategic insights into the business and would create value for the company by having them listed on our site, and have access to them in an ongoing way. I typically engage them well before anything formal to see if they would actually be helpful and that we both get along.

Compensation is usually around 0.1% - 0.5% ... if the person is amazing and will also help with the fundraising process, then I would go as high as 1%.

2) Personal Advisors

These are people who I turn to for specific advice around tactics and strategy on an infrequent basis (maybe once or twice a year). Things like SEO, Internationalization, etc ... I typically try to create value for them every time we chat, so that it's win/win and I don't compensate with equity.

I've personally never paid for formal advice, although I do often via Clarity .. but that's different.

The great thing about Clarity is I can avoid spending the time or equity to get similar quality advice in usually a faster time period, however both approaches (list above vs. using Clarity) are totally different affinities to the person and the company.

Call if you need more.