I'm an early employee at a startup. From the go, our money has come from our founders, and from a single external investor.
A year into working there, now with ~15 employees, we (most of us) were issued stock options. At this point, we were still in 'stealth mode', with no additional investment than the start.
There was a valuation (as I understand it, a number picked from a mix of equations, and pulling things out of the air) of $30MM, at an exercise price of $4.00, for 37,500 shares; for a total of $150,000's-worth, 0.5%
Another year later, we're not turning a profit but we've had a few more investors come in over the past 6 months, no new hires.
We just got word that those who didn't get granted options last year, were granted them this year (the reason they weren't given them the first time round with everyone else? Personal differences with the CEO).
They were issued at an exercise price of $1.00, for 9,000 shares; for a total of $36,000's-worth.
This is where my math gets off. I'm assuming the share price has gone down, because of the investment we've had. But, should it really be that much? If today's price is $1 per share, does that mean that (assuming worst-case, the self-valuation hasn't changed) there are now 4x as many shares in total? And hence, my options worth (0.5% / 4)?
A year into working there, now with ~15 employees, we (most of us) were issued stock options. At this point, we were still in 'stealth mode', with no additional investment than the start.
There was a valuation (as I understand it, a number picked from a mix of equations, and pulling things out of the air) of $30MM, at an exercise price of $4.00, for 37,500 shares; for a total of $150,000's-worth, 0.5%
Another year later, we're not turning a profit but we've had a few more investors come in over the past 6 months, no new hires.
We just got word that those who didn't get granted options last year, were granted them this year (the reason they weren't given them the first time round with everyone else? Personal differences with the CEO).
They were issued at an exercise price of $1.00, for 9,000 shares; for a total of $36,000's-worth.
This is where my math gets off. I'm assuming the share price has gone down, because of the investment we've had. But, should it really be that much? If today's price is $1 per share, does that mean that (assuming worst-case, the self-valuation hasn't changed) there are now 4x as many shares in total? And hence, my options worth (0.5% / 4)?