Pricing your equity: what a fair stake looks like at your traction band
Concrete ranges by stage — pre-launch to profitable — so you open with a number you can defend, not a guess.
The single hardest number to name is your first one. Ask for too much and serious partners walk; ask for too little and you give away leverage you can never get back. The trick is to stop thinking about a fixed figure and start thinking about a band tied to where your product actually is.
Pre-launch, with no users and no revenue, you are selling potential — expect to trade a wider stake (often 15–30% of a project or a generous rev share) because the partner is taking most of the risk. Once you have a live product with early traction, that band tightens: you are now sharing risk, and 8–15% or a mid-teens rev share is a more honest midpoint.
Profitable and growing changes the conversation entirely. Here you are buying a specific outcome — a channel unlocked, a retention curve bent — not betting the company. Scope the deal to the work: a fixed rev share on incremental revenue, or a small equity slice that vests against milestones you both write down.
Whatever band you land in, open with a range on the Deal Terms Card, not a single number. It signals you expect to negotiate, and it gives the partner room to counter without either side losing face.