
Friday Q&A: what should I pay my startup advisor in equity?
Starting a new project where I crowdsource questions every week and dig into the Carta data set for one answer on Fridays!
So if you want yours answered, comment with question below (and let me know if you want to be shouted out in the subsequent post).
This week's burning startup question: what do I give my advisors?
π£πΏπ²-ππ²π²π± Median: ~0.23%
π¦π²π²π± Median: ~0.13%
π¦π²πΏπΆπ²π π Median: ~0.068%
These are median values and there is quite a lot of variability when taking into account startup industry, location, etc. Not to mention "advisor" can cover a number of different roles.
Obviously advisors in the very earliest stages are receiving a larger percentage of the company. But if you are in talks with a pre-seed advisor and they ask for say 1%, just know that's founding engineer equity π
Reminder: always structure advisor grants with a vesting schedule! Typically this is 2 years, but can also be based on performance criteria instead of time. Equity should always come with a vesting schedule otherwise the incentive can fall flat. But don't be scared off - as you can see from the chart, tens of thousands of startup advisors are granted equity every year.
Interested in learning more about how to compensate with equity?
Join us on March 1 for a deep dive into all things startup compensation: https://lnkd.in/gZcTRsWk
Happy advising!
#cartadata #advisors #startups #equity #compensation
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