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We're a seed-stage startup with around 25 employees, and we're in the process of scaling up our team significantly. As part of that, we're trying to formalize our equity grant guidelines, and I'd love to hear how others approach grant sizing.

How are you determining initial equity amounts across different roles and seniority levels? Do you lean more on percentage-of-company benchmarks, dollar value ranges, or another methodology entirely? Also, how do you think about the balance between technical and non-technical roles when equity expectations can differ widely?

Would appreciate any frameworks, resources, or rules of thumb that have worked well for you, especially pre-Series A teams.

Great questions-this is such a pivotal time to get your equity framework right. At the seed stage, most companies lean on ownership percentage as the primary benchmark, since valuations are still early and equity feels more like ownership than compensation.

Common Grant Sizing Approaches
1. Percentage-of-Company Approach (most common pre-Series A)
This method allocates equity based on a % of the company's fully diluted shares at the time of hire. It works well in early stages when valuation is volatile and cash comp is lean.
2. Dollar-Value-Based Sizing (more common post-Series A)
Used when the company's valuation is more stable. Equity is sized to deliver a certain dollar value at fair market value (FMV). This method also aligns with 409A valuations and budgeting models.

3. Role-based or Tiered Frameworks
Assign employees to levels (L1–L7 or similar) and use pre-set grant bands. Often coupled with either of the above methods.

A Few Tips

• Keep technical and non-technical roles equitable, but recognize that equity expectations-and market norms-can vary widely. Engineers often anticipate larger equity stakes, especially in engineering-driven companies, while sales or go-to-market roles may prioritize higher cash compensation or variable pay.

  That said, don't default to over-rewarding technical roles at the expense of others. Early non-technical hires-your first marketing lead, ops manager, or customer success pro-can have massive strategic impact and carry significant leverage. Focus on role scarcity, talent competition, and mission-critical value rather than just job function.

  Set baseline targets by level, not by function, but leave room for thoughtful calibration where justified.

• Standardize your approach with a repeatable framework-e.g., "engineers get X% at level Y." It avoids negotiation bias and keeps internal equity.

• Anchor to your option pool size and hiring roadmap. Carta's option pool calculator is a helpful tool to model how long your pool will last.

• Reserve flexibility for outliers. You'll want to have a "discretionary band" to go above/below standard targets for game-changers or late-stage hires.

• Consider setting expectations for future refreshes.