It's a tricky one as startups are right to be cautious of releasing that info yet you do indeed need to know some of this info to make an informed decision. It

It's a tricky one as startups are right to be cautious of releasing that info yet you do indeed need to know some of this info to make an informed decision. It's worth pointing out that within VC circles it's probably easy to get those figures for any startup that is funded or doing the round for funding so the data is hardly 'confidential'. > No one was particularly comfortable answering questions about expected exit. I also don't think asking founders about their expected exit $$$ is one of the figures you need. What you need to know is: 1) How many options/shares they are offering you 2) How many outstanding unallocated shares 3) How many total shares in the company 4) Most recent valuation (from funding event, etc) 5) Strike price These allow you to, among other things, work out the value of your shares today for 83(b) purposes which is important as you would need to paying the tax on that within 30 days of your grant if you want to go the long-term tax efficient route. While we're on the subject of data startups are reluctant to give, I also need to know: 6) Amount raised to date 7) Runway (psychologically its better to ask for runway and calc burnrate yourself than ask it the other way around) When I've been in this situation the tact I've used has been "Look, you're essentially asking me to invest in this company too because I'm taking an options/equity stake as part of my remuneration. I need to know the top line figures to make an accurate calculation of the total package They might want to put you under and NDA to get the above, which is reasonable... just don't sign it unless you are making good progress with your interview (I tend not to sign NDAs unless it's absolutely necessary and then only at last stage)