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Employee Option Pool Calculator

Size an employee option pool against planned hiring and grant levels.

About Employee Option Pool Calculator

Pool sizing is driven by the hiring plan rather than by convention, and a refresh buffer is needed because retention grants consume pool alongside new hires. Senior hires can require several times the average grant. Underestimating the pool forces a top-up at the next round, which investors typically require to come from pre-money and therefore from existing holders.

Formula

Employee Option Pool

Pool needed = hires × average grant × (1 + refresh buffer)

refresh grants
Additional grants to retain existing staff, which consume pool over time
unallocated pool
Authorised but ungranted shares available for new hires

Worked example

With the default values below, Employee Option Pool Calculator returns Additional Pool Required of 1.250%. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Fully diluted sharesminimum 1
10,000,000
Planned hires before the next roundminimum 0
12
Average grant per hireaccepts 0–10 %
0.35 %
Existing unallocated poolaccepts 0–30 %
4 %
Buffer for refresh grantsaccepts 0–100 %
25 %

Results

Additional Pool Required
1.250%
Total Pool Needed for the Plan
5.250%
Shares to Add to the Pool
125,000
Average Grant in Shares
35,000
Verdict
A modest pool top-up is required for this hiring plan

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Employee Option Pool
  3. 3Additional Pool Required= 1.250
  4. 4Total Pool Needed for the Plan= 5.250
  5. 5Shares to Add to the Pool= 125,000
  6. 6Average Grant in Shares= 35,000
  7. 7Verdict= A modest pool top-up is required for this hiring plan

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
  • This is an estimate for general information and not professional financial, tax or legal advice. See the full disclaimer for the limits that apply to this kind of calculator.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Employee Option Pool calculated?

Pool needed = hires × average grant × (1 + refresh buffer) Pool sizing is driven by the hiring plan rather than by convention, and a refresh buffer is needed because retention grants consume pool alongside new hires. Senior hires can require several times the average grant.

Why does Employee Option Pool matter?

Underestimating the pool forces a top-up at the next round, which investors typically require to come from pre-money and therefore from existing holders.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 5 inputs: Fully diluted shares, Planned hires before the next round, Average grant per hire, Existing unallocated pool, Buffer for refresh grants. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

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