How startup equity actually works: dilution, strike price, and what your grant is really worth

A grant for 10,000 options sounds concrete, but it is only useful when you know the fully diluted share count or the ownership percentage. Without that context, the number is mostly theater.

The first question to ask is simple: what percentage of the company does this represent on a fully diluted basis?

Stock options are not free shares. You usually have to pay the strike price to exercise them, and that cash cost can matter long before there is any liquidity.

A grant can look valuable on paper while still being expensive or impractical to exercise.

Every new funding round can reduce your ownership percentage. A 15% round followed by another 15% round is not just a one-time haircut; it compounds against what remains.

That is why Grantwise lets you use either a simple dilution assumption or model future rounds directly.