Founder MindsetEmerging Pattern
Cap early equity grants conservatively - first hires should not exhaust equity pool
Founders desperate for talent often over-give equity because they cannot afford cash. This creates cap table problems later. Any equity in an early company is already significant - you have more leverage than you think.
When to use
When making offers to first 10-15 employees and feeling pressure to offer large equity packages
Don't do this
Offering 1% or more to early hires because you cannot afford competitive cash
1 Founder Who Did This
1
Pequityby Kaitlyn Knopp
Advised capping first 10 hires at 10% total equity pool based on experience at Instacart, Cruise, and Google where over-allocation created problems
Result:Prevents needing to pull equity from investors and founders later, preserves comp flexibility as company scales
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