>"yay, X% means I get X% of the company!" and then I found out the shares can be diluted.
There seems to be a common misunderstanding about dilution.
Dilution is not really the issue. In fact, dilution is a positive sign. It means more investors value the company and want to buy into the ownership.
How do current owners who collectively own 100% of the shares "sell" more shares to future owners?!? By way of dilution. That means everybody gets diluted including the founders, the angels, the VCs, and yes the employees too.
More important than dilution is the shares multiplied by price.
There seems to be a common misunderstanding about dilution.
Dilution is not really the issue. In fact, dilution is a positive sign. It means more investors value the company and want to buy into the ownership.
How do current owners who collectively own 100% of the shares "sell" more shares to future owners?!? By way of dilution. That means everybody gets diluted including the founders, the angels, the VCs, and yes the employees too.
More important than dilution is the shares multiplied by price.