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How Much Equity to Give Your First Employees: The Real Data From 50,000 Startups

Carta’s State of Seed report, based on 50,000 startups, reveals concrete equity benchmarks for early hires. The median grant for the first employee is 1.50% of fully diluted shares, falling to 0.85% for the second, 0.50% for the third, 0.44% for the fourth, and 0.33% for the fifth. Advisor equity is far lower, with a seed‑stage median of 0.12% and only 10% of pre‑seed advisors receiving more than 1%. The data highlights a steep equity curve and wide percentile ranges, underscoring the need for nuanced compensation planning.