Tool · interactive tool

OptionPlan by Index Ventures

Index Ventures Free Intermediate

A free calculator that turns the benchmarks into concrete grant sizes for a specific role, level, and stage. Plug in your early engineer's seniority and see a realistic range instead of guessing. It makes the gap between a co-founder stake and an employee grant visible in numbers.

  • Get a data backed grant range for a specific role and level
  • See how grants shrink as the company matures past seed
  • Turn abstract benchmarks into an actual offer you can make
Open on indexventures.com ↗

It answers 2 questions

  1. What equity should I offer a technical co-founder vs. an early engineer?
  2. When should I stop using an agency and hire my first in-house developer?

Read with it

  1. The definitive, data-driven book on early founding-team decisions, drawing on quantitative research covering nearly 10,000... Princeton University Press Book · ~480 pages The Founder's Dilemmas Noam Wasserman
  2. The canonical dynamic-equity framework for fairly splitting ownership based on real contributions before funding, when nobody... slicingpie.com Tool · Framework + software + handbook Slicing Pie: Dynamic Equity Split Model & Calculator Mike Moyer
  3. Battle-tested YC advice on landing your critical first engineering hire, from founders who've done it at scale. It reframes... YC Startup Library Article · Essay How to hire your first engineer (YC Startup Library) Y Combinator (Greg Brockman, Harj Taggar)
  4. Altman's condensed operating manual for founders, including sharp guidance on focus, spending your time on what only you can... playbook.samaltman.com Article · long Startup Playbook Sam Altman
  5. This essay names the exact trap you are in: delays in launching are usually fear of being judged and excessive perfectionism... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups Paul Graham
  6. A free, no-signup calculator that forces you and your co-founder to actually weigh the inputs (idea, roles, who is full time,... Foundrs Tool · ~10 minutes to work through Foundrs Co-Founder Equity Calculator Foundrs
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