How much equity should founder?
As a rule, independent startup advisors get up to 5\% of shares (or no equity at all). Investors claim 20-30\% of startup shares, while founders should have over 60\% in total.
How much equity should a CMO get in a startup?
The more risk, the more equity a CMO should get. If your startup has raised seed funding, and the CMO is joining post-money, a lot of the risk has been removed. This means the company’s valuation will be higher. For a CMO joining at that stage, it should be about 1.5\%.
How much dilution is normal?
Terms like ‘seed round’ and ‘Series A’ are less clear than they used to be, but in general, I recommend companies think about selling 10-15\% in a seed round and 15-25\% in their A round (and about 7\% if they go through an accelerator).
How much equity should you offer your startup’s team?
Deciding how much equity to offer your startup’s team members is confusing and easy to get wrong. Because each startup is different, and each person joins in a different situation, there are no one-size-fits-all rules. To make good decisions, you’ll need to understand the considerations.
Should you offer contractors equity in Your Startup?
The graph below shows the relative percentage of equity holdings before, during, and after the investment. If you hire contractors in the early stages of your startup, you might be tempted to offer them equity in exchange for their services. While this sounds good because it can save you cash, it can actually be problematic.
Should there be a risk premium for early-stage startups?
While Jason Cohen suggests that investment cash and sweat equity should be viewed the same, quite a few people suggest that there should be a risk premium for early employees at early-stage startups.
How much lower is the salary of a startup founder?
How much lower will depend significantly on the size of the team and the company’s valuation. Seed-funded startups would offer higher equity—sometimes much higher if there is little funding, but base salaries will be lower.