On the Equity Question
We’ve been sending this list of resources to every person we’ve sent an offer to at Numerai:
http://avc.com/2010/11/employee-equity-how-much/
Fred Wilson: “the amount of equity you need to grant to accomplish these hires is also an art and most certainly not a science.” “Early employees” are compensated by % points but want to move to dollar value as quickly as possible. He offers a formula for offering equity based on dollar value, but it’s unclear at what point in a company’s life this formula kicks in.
Basic overview of various employee stock options and the tax implications of exercising them.
http://blog.samaltman.com/employee-equity
Sam Altman: Employee equity isn’t fair: Employee’s don’t get enough and it’s hard for them to exercise their options. He offers the 10% to the first ten employees, but he also has more of the standard tech company in mind when he says this.
Tikhon: Employee equity isn’t fair, but he doesn’t offer any magic numbers.
Gusto’s Equity Guide: https://go.gusto.com/rs/110-WOX-868/images/Framework_Offering_Your_Employees_Equity.pdf
Very informative and well written. Intended for founders trying to figure this out.
http://blog.triplebyte.com/fixing-the-inequity-of-startup-equity
Triplebyte’s push for longer exercise windows.
http://venturehacks.com/articles/option-pool-shuffle
AngelList’s blog offers at the bottom of this page suggested ranges after Series A has been raised.
Not merely the amount of equity, but also that equity’s type and exercise window should be important to you.
