[anorak]

Thanks for your hard numbers; they're enlightening to a worker-bee like myself. A few questions: "Double that number if there are no outside investors" - do you mean double the 10%, or double the 2%? (I'd like to pursue this vein so I can relate to the owner's perspective.) How do you recommend calculating what the company is worth? Assets and revenue? (Company is still trying to turn a year in the black.)

So you'd suggest that I propose a stock package based on growth of the company over a certain period? Say maybe, over the next six months (if I stay with the company), what the increased revenue is? [Or would you recommend doing that in retrospect over the last six months - to say "a growth of X makes it reasonable for a compensation of Y"?]

[trevelyan]

If there aren't outside investors and no-one is getting diluted the 5% you mention in your write-up is reasonable since there is usually around a 20% total allotment to employees. All I meant otherwise is that from the owner's perspective it can be psychologically difficult to give significant equity to a new hire if you've been running the business for several years. It is always easier to agree to something generous if it is funded out of growth and conditional on business improving generally, so arguing for conditional options or whatever based on performance can be a good way to align interests.