Startup option offer evaluator
Enter the options, the total shares, the strike price, and the preferred price. See your part of the company, the cost to exercise, and what the grant pays at five sale prices.
Calculator
Read a startup option offer
Enter the numbers from the offer and the answers the company gives to your questions. See what the grant pays in a sale.
Ask the company. Without it, a number of options tells you nothing.
The price investors paid for each share.
Usually the money investors put in. They can take it back first in a sale.
- Your part
- 0.2%
- 40,000 ÷ 20,000,000
- Cost to exercise all
- $32,000
- 40,000 × $0.80
- Paper value
- $68,000
- At the $2.50 preferred price
- Break-even price
- $23.8M
- A sale at or below it pays your options $0
What the grant pays in a sale
| Sale price | Your payout | Each common share | Investors take |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25M (0.5×) | $4,364 | $0.9091 | $15M first |
| $50M (1×) | $68,000 | $2.50 | Their 45% |
| $100M (2×) | $168,000 | $5.00 | Their 45% |
| $250M (5×) | $468,000 | $12.50 | Their 45% |
| $500M (10×) | $968,000 | $25.00 | Their 45% |
1× is $50M: the preferred price × all 20,000,000 shares.
The offer gives you 0.2% of the company. To buy all the shares, you pay $32,000. At the preferred price, the grant looks worth $68,000, but common stock does not get the preferred price in every sale.
In a sale for $50M, the value at the last round price, your options pay $68,000 before tax, 100% of the paper value. They pay nothing unless the company sells for more than $23.8M. At that price, the investors take their $15M first, and the rest gives each common share only your $0.80 strike price.