

Ask HN: How much equity for first employee? - Murkin

Hey guys,<p>Was wondering if there are any rules of thumb for equity share of first employee(s).<p>Our specific scenario:<p><pre><code>  Two founders with track record (sold companies in the past).
  Have great connections.
  Already raised seed money.
</code></pre>
The first employee is going to be tech and in charge of building the product. (one or two more to follow soon).<p>What would be a reasonable equity share ? (If employee also gets about 1/2 market salary).
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morisy
A friend of mine was actually in almost the _exact_ same situation recently.
He was offered 8%, vested over four years, plus about a quarter salary with
promise of full salary (or at least full-er salary) on a second funding
around.

For the record, he turned the offer down. He'd been hoping for 20%, but also
wouldn't have taken the position if he'd been offered 50% because he just
wasn't passionate about the startup after a two-month trial period.

