How Much Equity for Each Employee?

Discover the right equity allocation for your team based on role and experience. Stay competitive with industry benchmarks.

Author

Rameel Sheikh
July 11, 2024

Insight from Holloway

Let’s talk specifics.

How much of that 10-20% should each employee receive based on their experience and role?

The loose consensus for what percentage you should offer for each position is below. 

These numbers are for a post-series A startup in Silicon Valley, but they’re a good place to start. 

CEO

5-10%

COO

2-5%

VP

1-2%

Board member (independent)

1%

Director

0.4-1.25%

Lead engineer

0.5-1%

Senior engineer

0.33-0.66%

Manager or junior engineer

0.2-0.33%

The above would include restricted stock or stock options and a four-year vesting schedule. 

Equity offers will be lower than this for post-series B startups, but seed-funded startups may offer even  higher percentages (with lower base salaries).

Just remember that these numbers are highly situational. 

We just thought it might be helpful to offer some well-sourced benchmarks 😀

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