Equity Offer Simulator
Enter what's on your offer letter. Drag through the months. See what you'd actually walk away with.
When you join a startup, part of your pay usually isn't cash — it's a claim on the company's future value. That claim comes in two common shapes across Europe, and which one you're holding matters more than the number attached to it.
Stock options
The right to buy shares later at a price fixed today (the strike price). You own nothing until you exercise — and exercising costs real money out of your own pocket.
Virtual shares
Also called VSOPs or phantom shares, and common in Germany, Italy and much of Europe. You get no shares at all — just a contract entitling you to a cash payout if the company is sold.
Either way, you don't get it all at once. You earn it over time — that's vesting — and typically nothing vests at all until you pass the cliff, usually one year in. Leave a day before it, and you leave with zero.
Instrument
Your grant
= 0.50% of the company today · ~0.35% after expected dilution
Company valued at €5,000,000
Vesting terms
18 months in
Past the cliff. Vesting monthly.
Vested so far
1,875
of 5,000 · 37.5%
Cost to exercise
€1,875
out of your own pocket
Worth today
€9,375
at today's share price
Net gain if sold now
€7,500
worth minus cost
Tax is not modelled here — treatment varies by country and by your own situation, and getting it wrong would be worse than leaving it out. This shows mechanics only.
The logic behind this
Founder Math
What your equity offer actually says
Vesting, cliffs, and the bill nobody warns you about.
Your percentage won't stay your percentage.
Cap Table Simulator — add funding rounds one at a time and watch exactly what happens to every slice, including yours.
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