Enter stage, role, remaining unallocated pool, and the grant you are about to write. You get the cited band for that seat, pool left after the grant, and the grant as a share of the company.
Use it next to executive equity grants by stage. Not legal, tax, or compensation advice.
What it does
- Stage: Seed, Series A, or Series B.
- Role: VP Sales, VP Eng, CFO / VP Finance, VP Product, Head of People.
- Unallocated pool %: remaining option pool, fully diluted, before this grant.
- This grant %: the fully diluted percentage you are considering.
- Cash (optional): base you are considering. Compared only where a source published a cash band (VP Sales). Other roles stay blank.
All arithmetic runs in your browser. The tool stores and sends nothing. Sources conflict on Series B VP Sales equity, so the calculator shows each published range instead of an average.
How to read the result
A grant can sit inside a published band and still be wrong for the pool. If 0.8% is the high end of Index’s Series A VP range and you have 2.0% unallocated with three more exec seats plus ICs in the next 18 months, the band is not the constraint. Carta: size the pool from a 12–18 month hiring plan. Index: the ESOP should cover talent needs through the next round.
Cash and percentage do not substitute for each other. UltraTalent and The CRO Report both show cash rising as equity percentage falls. If you match late-stage cash to a seed percentage, you are pricing one offer in two markets.
After a priced round, SAFE, or other material event, the existing 409A is no longer valid (Carta). Refresh, board-approve FMV, then grant.
Sources
Bands and cash ranges match the sibling guide. Open that page for full footnotes.
- Executive equity grants by stage — Seed / Series A / Series B table with Index, UltraTalent, The CRO Report, Carta, Kruze footnotes.
- Index Ventures, Rewarding Talent — VP rule of thumb 0.3–0.8% FDE at Series A; C-level 0.8–1.5%.
- UltraTalent, VP Sales compensation benchmarks 2026 — 29 July 2026.
- The CRO Report, VP Sales salary at Series B — 15 February 2026; April 2026 note.
- Carta, option pools — 20 August 2026.
- Carta, 409A valuation — 4 August 2026.
- Kruze, startup compensation guide — 4 December 2024.
Series D+ is not in this form. Cited sources on the companion page do not publish a VP band for that stage.
To pressure-test this grant with founders who have made the same hire, bring it to a FounderNexus session.