Free tool
Size the pool from a plan,
not a default.
Every point of option pool is a point of founder dilution. Build the pool from the hires you'll actually make, then negotiate with the number.
Hires planned before the next round
~1.0% each (planning midpoint)
~0.35% each
~0.15% each
~0.05% each
Refresh grants, competing offers, off-plan hires.
Pool your plan actually needs
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Top-up to ask for in the round
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Plan vs pool
| Role | Each | Subtotal |
|---|
Per-hire figures are planning midpoints of common seed/Series A benchmark ranges. Adjust for your market and stage.
Why "just make it 15%" is a bad default
The most common pool-sizing mistake is accepting a round-number default. Investors often open with 15–20% because a bigger pre-money pool lowers their effective price, the option pool shuffle. The counter isn't to argue about the number; it's to bring a hiring plan.
Build the plan bottom-up: who are you actually hiring before the next round, at what level, with what typical grant? Sum it, add a buffer for refreshes and surprises, subtract what's already unallocated. That number, not a default, is your negotiating position.
Worked example
1 VP (1.0%) + 3 senior (1.05%) + 5 mid (0.75%) + 4 junior (0.2%) = 3.0% of planned grants. With a 30% buffer: 3.9%. You have 2% unallocated, so the top-up you actually need is ~1.9%, not the 10% in the draft term sheet. On a $15M post-money round, that difference is roughly $1.2M of founder value retained.
After the round: tracking the pool
A pool is a budget, and budgets need ledgers. Vquity's options module tracks every grant from offer through vesting to exercise or expiry, with a pool-utilization chart that shows exactly how much is committed, vested, and still free, so the next round's pool conversation starts from data.
Frequently asked questions
What's a typical option pool size?
Common seed-stage pools land between 8% and 15% post-round, but the spread is wide precisely because it should depend on the hiring plan. A company hiring three executives needs a very different pool than one hiring six juniors.
Are the per-hire equity numbers reliable?
They're planning midpoints drawn from widely used seed/Series A benchmark ranges. They're good enough to size a pool, not to make a specific offer. Actual grants vary by market, stage, cash trade-off, and candidate.
Why subtract the existing unallocated pool?
Investors sometimes anchor on a headline pool size while ignoring what's already unallocated. If you have 2% free and need 3.9%, the round only needs a 1.9% top-up. Pushing back with that math is often worth over a point of founder equity.
Move your cap table off the spreadsheet.
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