Always wanted to start my own business, then one just fell into my lap today. What do I do?

I've had my sights on getting out of what I currently do(work at an NGO) and into my own business for a while. I've been through multiple ideas, potential partners, business plans and have researched a lot. Then today, a friend and coworker straight up asked me to run his startup.

He's leaving the country shortly and has a US business selling luxury spices from his country. His partner screwed up, he has two weeks till he starts his new position overseas, and he needs someone to run things here just as they are getting off the ground. They have been informally selling spices here and have made roughly $25k in sales this year.

The product has potential, but the website, the branding, the packaging, etc are just getting finished. He's legit and I believe him when he says he trusts me and thinks I would be good for sales. But he is actually asking me to take over the new startup and run it. His (extremely optimistic) goal for 2019 is to reach $500k in sales. I don't think that's likely considering I'll be part-time, he's remote, and it's just the two of us.

I've never run a company before other than a photography business, but I ran my own non-profit for several years. I've been asked to put up nothing other than my time, he's agreed that I would run this part time while working my full time job, and he would be the primary shareholder who would consult/help from time to time.

Is this too good to be true? We have talked contracts informally and I haven't agreed to anything yet, but my gut is that I have nothing to lose except time. Why not? What am I missing here? He's offering me 20% of everything we make.

TL;DR: a friend asked me to take over his startup as he leaves the country, knowing I have no experience running a company.

submitted by /u/mikerudz
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