This page is for educational and informational purposes only. The content presented here describes our general philosophy and approach to equity compensation and is intended as marketing material to help you understand how we think about building our team. This is not a securities offering, investment solicitation, or binding commitment. Actual terms, structures, multipliers, and arrangements will be negotiated individually and documented in formal legal agreements. All examples, calculations, and scenarios are illustrative only and do not represent guaranteed terms or outcomes. Please consult with your own legal and financial advisors before making any decisions.
We're building this company with the belief that your time is valuable, and you should receive meaningful ownership in return for your contributions - not empty promises.
We don't offer stock options. Instead, we offer something better.
You're paid wages every two weeks just like any other job. After each paycheck, you can choose to invest some or all of it back into the company. When you do, you're investing in the company just like a VC. And, just like a VC, you get rewarded for participating early.
Most startups offer stock options, but we think the traditional system is broken.
| Stock Options | Our Approach | What This Really Means |
|---|---|---|
| Must pay cash to exercise | No cost to you | You work for 2 years, then need to pay $50,000+ just to own your shares. Many people can't afford this and lose everything. |
| Can expire worthless | Always have value | Options often have 90-day deadlines after leaving. Miss the deadline or can't afford to exercise? Your 2 years of work = $0. |
| Arbitrary pricing | Based on actual market rates | Companies set "strike prices" however they want. Your options might be "underwater" (worthless) even if the company is doing well. |
| Complex tax implications | Simpler tax treatment | Exercise stock options and you might owe huge taxes immediately - even though you can't sell the shares yet. People have gone bankrupt from option tax bills. |
| Vesting cliffs (lose everything if you leave early) | Keep what you earn | Work 11 months and 29 days? Get fired or need to leave? You get absolutely nothing. Zero. Companies sometimes fire people right before their cliff. |
| Can expire worthless if no exit | Always have value | If the company never goes public or gets sold, your options become worthless paper. Your SAFE becomes a legally binding IOU with interest that gets paid back if the company ever makes money. |
If taxes weren't a thing. Here's how it would work.
We sit down together and come to an agreement on what you would normally get paid per hour by another employer (e.g., $100/hour for a senior developer, $75/hour for a marketer, etc.). This is something we negotiate up front based on your skills, experience, and location - just like any other job - and it becomes your "market rate".
You work whatever hours you want to work (part-time, full-time, nights & weekends, whatever fits in your life right now). You literally receive paychecks, then wire the money back to the company. If you work 400 hours and reinvest wages equivalent to $75/hour, that's $30,000 worth of investment in the company.
Your investment is formally tracked through a legally binding document called a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). If you want to know more about SAFEs, just ask ChatGPT "What is a SAFE, and why do early stage investors use them"? For now just know that there is nothing special about our version of the document. It's the same document that every other early-stage investor uses.
What we know at this stage: The dollar amount you've invested ($30,000 in our example).
What we don't know yet: How many shares your investment converts to. This happens in the final step.
Next, we raise our first priced funding round. This is when we take your total wage reinvestment up until that point and multiply it by up to 120% (as an illustrative example) - the bonus rewards you for joining early and taking risk.
So in this example, your $30,000 becomes $36,000 worth of equity before we convert to actual company shares.
"First priced funding round": means the first time investors give the company an official valuation. This is different from earlier "seed" rounds where investors might just say "we'll invest $500K and figure out the valuation later." The priced round is when your equity credit actually converts to actual ownership percentages.
In the final step, your boosted amount ($36,000 in our illustrative example) gets converted into actual shares based on the price-per-share established by the priced round.
If the company is valued at $10 million, then:
Your $36,000 รท $10,000,000 = 0.36% ownership of the company.
That's real equity you own - real shares, not just promises or options
Important: The $10 million valuation and 120% multiplier are illustrative examples only - actual terms will be documented in formal agreements. Whether we're valued at $5 million or $50 million, you'll get the equivalent dollar value of equity based on your negotiated multiplier. A higher valuation means you get a smaller percentage of a more valuable company, but your shares are worth the same dollar amount either way.
The steps above accurately describe our approach - but taxes ARE a thing, and no one benefits from paying taxes on all those wages.
So instead, we pay only minimum wage, the IRS collects only minimal taxes, and then we give you a multiplier on the small amount of wages reinvested. The multiplier is calculated to achieve an outcome equivalent to the illustrative 120% bonus described above.
Let's say you have a $75/hour market rate but get paid only $15/hour minimum wage (after tax):
End Result: You get the equivalent equity outcome as the simple version (market wage reinvestment + illustrative 120% bonus), but taxes are significantly reduced.
Note: Your specific multiplier would be calculated based on your market rate and local minimum wage. These are illustrative ranges only - actual terms will be specified in your individual agreement.
So far, we've been explaining things as if you'll work purely for equity until the priced round. But in reality, there's an important middle step that gives you more flexibility.
Work for minimum wage + reinvest 100% of your net earnings
We expect to raise a smaller "seed" round that gives us working capital
You can choose to work for part cash/part equity or continue at 100% equity
We raise a major "priced" round where your sweat-equity converts to real shares with the multiplier
Once we raise seed funding, you can:
Whatever portion of your market rate that don't take as cash continues to accumulate in your SAFE until the priced round, when everything converts to actual shares with the bonus.
If your market rate is $70/hour, you might choose to get paid $50/hour in cash and reinvest $10/hour toward equity. In this illustrative scenario, the $10 could be multiplied by approximately 3.6x, so you continue to accumulate around $36/hour worth of sweat-equity while keeping $40/hour (after taxes) to live on. Actual multipliers and terms would be specified in your agreement.
Unlike stock options, you'll own actual pieces of the company. This means you can:
Private markets exist where you can sell shares before the company goes public (usually at a discount) - by the way, the platform we're building is one
If another company buys us, your shares convert to cash or their stock
If we go public, you can sell your shares on the stock market
If we ever pay dividends, you get them too
A: For now - minimum wage for your location. Could be $7.25/hour (federal minimum) or $20+/hour in some cities. But the expectation is that you won't keep any of it.
A: You're fully within your rights not to reinvest. But you'll only keep the wages (e.g., $15/hr) and won't accumulate any equity. Your total upside is capped at what we paid you in cash. Realistically, if we succeed, that early equity is likely to be orders of magnitude more valuable than the minimum wage you were paid.
A: When we raise a priced funding round (usually 12-18 months). Until then, you have a legal IOU for share called a SAFE.
A: Yes. We use the same legal documents (SAFEs) that professional investors use. You're treated exactly like any other investor.
A: Regular jobs pay you cash and you own nothing. Here, you become an owner of the company you're helping build.
A: You keep all the equity you've earned. You take the SAFEs with you. No vesting cliffs or "use it or lose it" rules. The SAFEs will convert just like normal when we raise first priced round.
A: Everything is documented in a legal SAFE agreement that protects your rights as an investor - just like a cash investor.
A: Like any startup investment, there's risk. But your SAFE functions as a legal IOU, so you have way more protection than traditional stock options.
A: Yes, before and after the seed round. We want this to work for your life situation.
A: Yes. It's not as glamorous as wiring $100K like a VC, but at the end of the day, the wages you invest are real dollars in your bank account, if only there for a short time before going back into the business. Even better: you're not taxed again (since you already paid tax on your wages) and you may receive a multiplier when conversion happens. Our illustrative 120% multiplier is comparable to terms many early-stage angel investors receive.
If this sounds interesting:
Look up what people in your role actually make
Use our examples to estimate your potential ownership
Consider consulting a lawyer or accountant
We're happy to explain anything that's unclear
This approach only works if we're building something worth owning. We think we are.
View Open PositionsThe information on this page is provided for educational and marketing purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or investment product. All terms, multipliers, percentages, and examples described herein are illustrative only and are subject to change. Nothing on this page should be construed as legal, tax, or investment advice. Any actual equity arrangements will be subject to individual negotiation and will be governed by formal legal documentation. Past examples or hypothetical scenarios are not guarantees of future results or terms. We strongly encourage you to consult with qualified legal and financial professionals before making any decisions regarding compensation or investment. ListLab makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of any information presented.