How much of my net worth is safe to tie up in a home?

There is no single right number, but the principle is simple. As a founder, most of your wealth already sits in one illiquid, risky place: your company. A house is a second large, illiquid asset. Stacking the two means that if the startup struggles at the same time the property market is soft, you are stuck on both sides with little cash to move. The usual salaried guidance of putting a big share of net worth into a home fits a steady paycheck, not lumpy founder income. Many founders keep the home a smaller slice than a salaried peer would, and hold more in liquid assets they can reach in a bad quarter. A useful test: could you keep paying the EMIs from savings if your income stopped for a year? Confirm any tax angle with a CA, since rules change.