- 24 July, 2024
Working with the entrepreneurs we back is at the heart of our work at Balderton.
Every day, we work with CEOs and their teams, weighing options on every aspect of their internal and external strategy. Many of these conversations are company-specific. But there are a number of key topics that focus on questions that every company has to answer – and equity is one of those.
Equity lies right at the heart of the technology ecosystem. The shared belief amongst a company’s founders, investors and employees is that they are on a path to build a rapidly growing company that will create enormous value.
So it is only fair for that value to be shared amongst those who created it. And equity is the way to do that.
Done well, shared equity can create life-changing moments of wealth creation for founders and employees, while delivering loyalty and a highly incentivized workforce for a company and its investors.
Getting this process of value sharing just right, however, is phenomenally complex.
Because we discuss the topic of equity with every single company we work with, we have built large reserves of historical data and advice in these areas.
So, as we did with our Talent Ecosystem research – we occasionally release some of these in a variety of formats – from books to interactive sites, events and more.
Questions the Balderton Guide answers:
- Why give equity to employees?
- What is employee equity?
- How much equity is needed for the ESOP pool and how does it evolve?
- How much equity should I give an employee?
- How do I set a strike price for employee options?
- How do I help employees understand and value their equity?
- What are the details of vesting, exercise, and refresh?
- What are variations on stock options?
- How do I present this to my board?
- Where can I find more information?
What is in the Balderton Essential Guide to Employee Equity?
- Grant value calculations
- Initial grant vesting
- Refresh vesting
- Board summary examples
- A list of useful third-party resources.
Download the Essential Guide to Employee Equity
Data, insights, key learnings and worksheets on the topic of equity in European-founded startups.
Equity by Location
The Guide covers how equity practices vary across startup hubs.
ESOP Plans
The Guide covers how to structure an ESOP pool and how it evolves.
Option Grants
The Guide also looks at questions about employee vesting, exercise and refresh.
Practical spreadsheets and worksheets
Additionally, we recommend:
- AVC (Fred Wilson’s blog): series on employee equity
- Thomson Reuters Practical Law: overview of tax / legal structures by region
- Wealthfront equity plan and blog
- Accion: overview of ESOPs and general education
The Balderton Equity Workbooks
Google Sheets workbooks to help you better understand some of the topics discussed in the Guide.
