Here are 5 tips on how to negotiate for more equity at your startup

Bhavik Vashi, 32, is living the dream of many Silicon Valley tech workers. He joined a promising startup, did his time and eventually the company was acquired, minting him as a millionaire.

Shortly after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013, he joined software startup Anaplan. Over the course of about 10 years at the company, Vashi worked his way up from an entry-level consultant role to vice president.

“When I joined, we were less than 100 people… and then I just [saw] it grow and expand to over 2,000 people at one point,” Vashi told CNBC Make It. “Basically, every time I was promoted at Anaplan, I had an equity grant of some capacity.”

It all paid off in June 2022, when Anaplan was acquired by private equity company Thoma Bravo at a roughly $10.4 billion valuation. Under the deal, all Anaplan shareholders received $63.75 per share.

Vashi made over $2 million after selling all of his equity in the software startup, according to documents seen by CNBC Make It. Today, he has moved onto a new role as the managing director for Asia Pacific and the Middle East at software company Carta.

“It was enough to make me dedicate the next chapter of my life to spreading the good word about equity to more people, and [try] to get companies, even [those] outside of venture capital, like furniture stores and mom and pop shops to think about democratizing ownership as a concept,” he said.

While he acknowledged the role luck played in his payout, he also credited a couple strategic moves he made for his success. Here are five tips on how to negotiate for more equity at work, according to Vashi:

The first step is to identify what you are looking for your company to provide.

“I think one mistake that some employees make because they see some of the wild successes in Silicon Valley… is that they put too much emphasis on equity,” he said. “They think… I have this equity and it’s going to make me a millionaire, and that’s statistically just completely untrue. 98% of startups fail.”

Employees should first evaluate their current budget and lifestyle. “You have to be comfortable with your cash compensation number to cover your operating expenses and living expenses,” he said.

Once your basics are covered, that’s when you can shift your focus to asking for equity, said Vashi.

“Most retail investors don’t have access to… [this] asset class and as part of your portfolio, you should always look to maximize that aspect of it, because you can get cash in other places, but you won’t be able to get this kind of a lottery ticket, for lack of a better term, in most places,” said Vashi.

If owning equity is something you want, it is crucial to make sure that your company offers equity compensation and that you feel bullish on the business.

In Vashi’s case, Anaplan was a company that “was experiencing so much growth and success,” he said. “There were always new and exciting challenges for me to take on anytime I started to feel even a little bit complacent or comfortable.”

“When you’re negotiating for equity versus cash compensation, you’re implicitly saying that… I’m putting my bet [on] the company’s success, and I want my financial outcomes to be directly tied to the company’s financial outcome,” said Vashi.

Thus, if equity is important to you, employees should do their research to make sure that they believe in the company they are working for.

“The more you understand about [the company’s] trajectory, the more calculated a risk, I think, you can take about what you think equity [at that company] might be worth,” said Vashi.

Once that happens, Vashi says the key to being granted equity at a company is by bringing value. “The best way to secure equity compensation is to make yourself extremely important to the company,” he said.

“There’s going to be a direct correlation between how important you are to the outcome of the company and how much equity you have. That’s why the founder generally has the plurality stake. It’s why the investors get a big stake because they’ve actually put cash into the business,” he said.

When it comes to employees, it is “all based on [their] contributions, either actual contributions or expected contributions,” Vashi said.

One way to demonstrate your value to your company is by being proactive and networking throughout your company, said Vashi.

“Don’t limit your own growth based on how much advocating your manager may or may not do for you,” said Vashi. “Make sure that you are advocating for yourself and making your contributions visible, both to your manager but also to your skip levels,” or your manager’s manager, he suggests.

While culture can differ between companies, industries, and regions, Vashi suggests that it is important to be proactive at work. It is often up to the employee to advocate for themselves in a work environment.

The key to a successful negotiation is preparation, so that when the opportunity comes to advocate for yourself, you already have a strong case ready to go.

“Make sure that whatever work you do, you’re able to articulate how it directly ties to the success of the business,” said Vashi. He suggests documenting your contributions as a way to prepare.

“Start building yourself a portfolio of your own work. That’s going to be useful for you in every raise conversation,” he said. “Then, you could eventually turn that into a PowerPoint presentation… which is more summarized when you’re advocating for your team and your function at large.”

Even when well-prepared, it can be difficult to effectively articulate your thoughts when you’re in the negotiation room, so here is a sample script that Vashi gave to help structure your argument:

“For me, I’m at a stage of my career where I’m less focused on my cash compensation. I’m looking to join a company that I believe is going to be successful, and if I believe it’s going to be successful, then I want my personal financial well-being tied directly to the success of the company.

If that’s not a relationship that you would like to strengthen through the form of an increased equity grant, perhaps it’s not a great fit for us, because I want to work really hard, and I want to know that all that hard work is eventually going to be able to manifest itself in value for myself as well as the company.”

Asking for equity in a company is a big “show of faith” in the company, said Vashi, because not only are you tying your own financial well-being to the business, but you are also committing to a longer time horizon as equity is traditionally granted over a four-year vesting period, so making that known may just help your case.

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