{"id":7516,"date":"2025-07-24T16:04:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T16:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capvisory.de\/?p=7516"},"modified":"2025-07-24T17:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:04:04","slug":"founder-equity-per-funding-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capvisory.de\/de\/founder-equity-per-funding-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"How much equity should founders and employees really own per stage?\u200b"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Capvisory Insights<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Fundraising knowledge<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

How much equity should founders and employees really own per stage?<\/span><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Capvisory is an independent, founder-led advisory boutique specializing in fundraising, sell-side M&A, and buy-side M&A for fast-growing tech companies and their investors.\n<\/span>
<\/span><\/div><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Julius Kr\u00e4tschmer<\/a><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Gr\u00fcnder und Partner<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Markus Wilk<\/a><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Gr\u00fcnder und Partner<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

We talk a lot to founders who plan to raise venture capital from institutional investors. One of the first questions we always ask is: \u201cHow much equity do the active founders and employees own in your company?”<\/p>\n

The answers can be quite unexpected and can range from a mere 5% to a full 100%. One extreme example was last year when a founder wanted to raise on a \u20ac20M pre-money valuation. The problem was: just a few months earlier, he collected \u20ac2M (which is great) from family and friends at a \u20ac4M valuation, basically giving away 50% of his company.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The issue<\/p>

Owning less than 85-80% at the pre-seed stage poses potential challenges for growth via the VC route. VCs need significant exits to deliver returns, and for significant exits, most companies need multiple rounds of funding, leading to multiple rounds of dilution. So if you start your first institutional round owning 50% or less, ending at 0.5% ownership at the time of exit, how much is your hunger to drive the business compared to another founder in this field who would end up with 10-15%?<\/span><\/p>

So here is the disclaimer: The VC track isn’t the only path to success. Take Mailchimp, GoPro, Atlassian, or GitHub that didn\u2019t go the traditional paths and still built billion-dollar companies. So yes, there are alternative paths to victory. However, many companies find VC funding crucial for scaling to the big leagues, as evidenced by the fact that 20-30% of U.S. IPOs are VC-backed. We always like to say: If you\u2019re not building a rocketship, you potentially do not need the fuel to get it off the ground.<\/p>

Understanding investor expectations<\/h2>
\u00a0<\/div>

But when you’re ready to scale and need substantial financial fuel, investors have specific ownership expectations at each funding stage:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t