Splitting equity among co-founders is one of the earliest and most important decisions for your startup. Only about one-third of companies grant the same amount of equity to each co-founder, according to Carta data, while the majority of companies decide to vary their equity split between co-founders. But how do you determine what that division should be?
The answer depends on details about the business and each founder, their roles, and the experience they each bring.
Founders equity calculator
Carta’s co-founder equity split tool is a dynamic tool that asks questions about the company and each founder—their roles, responsibilities, skill sets, and other factors—to model a recommended founder equity breakdown. Here’s what the co-founder equity split tool looks like in action:
The tool is available exclusively in the Carta Founder Studio—sign in here.
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Why getting founder equity right is so important
To calculate the best way to split founder equity, you can input details into the tool about your company and each founder. The final results are helpful, but it’s the act of going through the process and asking yourself (and each other) the hard questions that truly pays off.
The Carta founder equity calculator makes it easier to have these conversations, and it supports the co-founders in making this consequential decision.
Getting this decision right is important. Determining founder equity split is often a blocker for incorporation and, in turn, raising funding.
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