Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. Choe opted to forgo a cash payment “in the thousands” for the equity equivalent at the time. Dead equity has always been a significant issue for startups. million.  MORE >>

There is no specific ratio between “sweat equity” and cash in a venture, and that’s actually not a good way to think about the issue. The first is the entrepreneurial value of the founder(s) in a new venture. Invested Interests Angels cash equity effort ownership startup sweat equity VCs MORE >>

CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5% It never hurts to ask in a job interview what stock options are available, and don’t accept an offer which promises to “work out the equity terms later.” Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7% MORE >>

The Founder’s Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman is another book that belongs on every entrepreneur’s bookshelf. The Founder’s Dilemmas was the first. I’ve never seen a book before that was particularly helpful – to a founder – about the wide range of issues a founder will face. MORE >>

I was just asked about a particular startup situation (seed stage, CMO hire, non-founder) and particularly what compensation and equity is appropriate. Seed Stage Compensation What are typical compensation numbers? Quick & Dirty How-To: Employee Stock Option Allocations MORE >>