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Explore a vesting illustration
These example inputs apply the same monthly schedule to every founder. Change them to compare assumptions.
Your ownership conversation
| Founder | Proposed | Equal comparison | Vested at chosen month | Unvested at chosen month |
|---|
An equal comparison is a mathematical baseline. This tool cannot decide what is fair, issue shares or replace your actual agreements.
What the calculator does
Enter two, three or four founders. Allocate percentages directly, or use the equal-split button to divide the amount remaining after your chosen reserve. Founder percentages and the reserve must total 100%. The calculator accepts two decimal places and refuses to show a valid result when the numbers do not balance.
The equal comparison divides the same founder allocation among the same people. It is a reference for your conversation, not a score of anyone’s value. When the division needs rounding, the first rows receive the remaining hundredths so that the displayed allocation still totals exactly 100%.
Founder allocation available = 100% − reserve
Equal baseline = founder allocation available ÷ number of founders
Before the cliff: vested fraction = 0
At or after the cliff: vested fraction = min(completed months ÷ duration, 1)
Vested company percentage = proposed founder percentage × vested fraction
The illustration uses completed months and one linear schedule shared by all founders. At the cliff, the portion corresponding to elapsed months becomes vested. It does not use calendar dates, individual grant terms or actual share counts.
Two examples to make the percentages clear
Two founders, no reserve: an equal allocation is 50% each. With the illustrative 48-month duration and 12-month cliff, nothing is vested after 11 completed months. At month 12, 25% of each allocation is vested: that is 12.5% of the company per founder, not 25% of the company per founder. At month 48, each full 50% allocation is vested in the model.
Three founders and a 10% reserve: equal allocations are 30%, 30% and 30%, leaving 10% unallocated. You could instead enter a hypothetical 40%, 30% and 20% split. Both balance, but arithmetic does not tell you which arrangement is suitable. Keep the reasons, responsibilities and unresolved differences beside the numbers.
These are invented examples, not recommended splits or claims about Aspair members. A reserve in this worksheet is only a planning placeholder. An actual employee pool, share issuance or funding round may use a different share-count basis and requires its own documentation.
Discuss the work before agreeing on the percentage
- Future commitment: what responsibilities and time can each person realistically commit over the next stage?
- Existing contributions: what work, cash or intellectual property already exists, and what rights or obligations attach to it?
- Decision-making: how will you resolve a disagreement? Ownership percentage alone does not describe every voting or control right.
- Change and departure: what happens if a person reduces their commitment or leaves? Write down the scenarios that need advice.
- Evidence of working together: use a bounded co-founder trial project before making assumptions about a long-term partnership.
A technical title, an initial idea or a single cash contribution cannot establish a fair percentage by itself. This worksheet deliberately avoids assigning automatic points to personal characteristics or job titles. Use it to make your own assumptions visible, then prepare the unresolved questions in the founder agreement discussion planner.
Keep the limits with any shared result
This is an educational planning illustration, not legal, tax or investment advice and not an agreement or cap-table record. The result does not account for existing investors, different share classes, individual vesting start dates, acceleration, repurchase rights, tax, funding instruments or rounding to whole shares. Confirm the actual structure and documents with qualified advisers in your jurisdiction before issuing or transferring equity.
For background on the monthly vesting and cliff mechanism, see Stripe’s explanation of founder equity terms. Its product terms describe a particular incorporation service; they do not determine the right terms for every Indian or international startup.
If you are discussing a new investment instead of the initial founder allocation, use the separate equity dilution calculator. To find people to begin the conversation with, explore co-founder matching on Aspair and introduce the contribution you can make.