"If you’re offered a job at a startup, your offer probably comes with a stock grant. If you don’t know how much of the company you’re getting, this grant number has almost no information. You need to know what percentage of the company you’re getting. Founders know this, so they sometimes lie by omission to pay you less. This isn’t ethical and you shouldn’t work for such founders. Not knowing how much of the company your'e getting is like being told you’ll get 100,000 units of currency every year, but not which currency. US Dollars? Zimbabwe Dollars? You have no idea what you’re getting. This currency analogy is apt because stock inflation has no cost at the founding of a company. You can form a company and just pick the number of shares to be whatever you want. It can be 10K or 10B. There are a few ways to package this information. Let’s walk through them so you can understand your job offer." - CW