My rule of thumb (early stage at least): Start at 2% and increase by 1% for every $10k under market your paying in salary. I'm happy to give 5% in equity to a

My rule of thumb (early stage at least): Start at 2% and increase by 1% for every $10k under market your paying in salary. I'm happy to give 5% in equity to a top-notch engineer who is taking a 30% pay cut.