Knowing the number of options isn't nearly as useful as knowing what percentage of the company you will own. This lets you calculate the various ways the value

Knowing the number of options isn't nearly as useful as knowing what percentage of the company you will own. This lets you calculate the various ways the value of your equity will change as the business gets more investment, sells, or goes public. The company should tell you are offered 200 shares of, say, 2 million outstanding shares. If the valuation you say is accurate, it looks like they are giving you options for around 0.026% of the company. Probably about right if you are a late hire (say employee number between 10 and 100). Hopefully your salary is enough to be able to afford ~$65,000 worth of option exercises every year, should you be interested in purchasing them! The link below also has tax consequences, which depend on the type of option, and how much the value of the shares change between now and when you exercise the options. Ideally the company will also tell you roughly how much the company would need to sell for in order for you to see a return. They can tell you this indirectly by saying what kind of liquidation preferences other investors have. For a more detailed writeup, see https://github.com/jlevy/og-equity-compensation https://github.com/jlevy/og-equity-compensation Good luck!