I think a nice balance would be an option pool set at 6% with a full ratchet provision. The option pool could be established in such a way that any employee ge

I think a nice balance would be an option pool set at 6% with a full ratchet provision. The option pool could be established in such a way that any employee gets points toward the pull based on a formula* and no employee would need to exercise their options until their is a liquidity event that buys out the pool. Formula could be something like: # of days from when startup was founded to liquidity event, that gives the equity per day. Then divy up the equity per day by the number of employees that worked that day. In a hypothetical example where the company had 3 people for the first year, those days would be worth a lot, but if it took 10 years to get to a huge exit, the people that put that first year in would get about: 6%/10 years/3 = 0.2% equity which at a very large exit would be something significant, but would also be somewhat fair because they did help get the thing launched, which is hard. There could also be provisions which eliminate or vastly reduce the value of equity earned for part-time employees or employees with other jobs. Say a .1 multiplier. Now you guy that goes to facebook after 3 months but moonlights for another 9 months gets: (.06(90/360))/10/3 + (.06(270/360))/10/3).1) = 0.065% The other 4% of the pool could be normal executive payouts that you need to make later, and other bonus allocations.