For senior engineers & early leads · Series A offer calls
The founder says equity is the upside. Rehearse your answer before Tuesday’s call.
You know the questions to ask. You don’t know what happens when a founder frames pushback as disbelief in the mission.
The offer letter landed: $165k base, 0.18% over four years, standard 90-day post-termination exercise window. You’ve read the Holloway chapter and the Levels.fyi thread. You still can’t picture yourself saying “I need the grant as a fully diluted percentage and a longer exercise window” and then hearing the founder say “we’re all taking a pay cut for the mission — the equity is where the upside lives.” Kommi puts you in that call first — with a founder who cites the option pool, deflects cap-table detail, and guilt-trips on cash — so Tuesday’s real conversation isn’t your first take.
The cap-table spreadsheet isn’t the hard part.
Every startup equity guide says the same thing: convert options to fully diluted percentage, ask about 409A and liquidation preferences, push for a longer post-termination exercise window. You have the checklist. What you don’t have is muscle memory for when Jordan the founder says “0.18% is top of band for Series A engineers” and you have to decide in real time whether to accept vague share counts or hold for transparency without sounding like you’re already interviewing elsewhere.
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What’s at stake
Accept opaque terms and you might discover 0.18% was pre-dilution theater, or that a 90-day window forces a six-figure exercise check if you leave in year three. Push too softly and you start underpaid and resentful.
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Why you procrastinate
Founders aren’t recruiters. You’re afraid asking for cap-table detail makes you look mercenary before day one. You keep re-reading the offer letter until the expiration date is Friday.
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What articles can’t do
Startup Law Blog and Value Add VC explain PTE windows and double-trigger acceleration. They can’t simulate the founder saying “if you believe in what we’re building, the equity speaks for itself” while you wonder if you’re about to leave $200k on the table.
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What a lawyer can’t do
A comp attorney will redline terms for $500 an hour. They won’t sit with you at 9 PM and roleplay five rounds of mission-driven pushback before you get on Zoom with the founder.
Sample roleplay · 3 minutes
“The equity is where the upside lives.”
You’re Alex, the candidate. Offer: $165k base, 18,000 options over four years. You want fully diluted percentage, current 409A, and a two-year post-termination exercise window. Jordan, the founder, is on the follow-up call.
You (Alex)
“I’m excited about the role. Before I sign, I need a few clarifications: what percentage of fully diluted shares does 18,000 options represent, what’s the current 409A strike price, and whether you’d consider extending the post-termination exercise window beyond 90 days.”
Jordan (founder)
“Look, 0.18% is top of band for Series A engineers here. We’re all taking below-market cash because we believe in the upside. I can’t move base — that’s what the board approved. The equity is where this gets interesting. Cap-table detail is sensitive pre-close, but trust me, the grant is competitive.”
Your move
- → Ask for two offer versions: cash-weighted and equity-weighted
- → Reframe transparency as diligence, not distrust: “I need the math to evaluate the risk I’m taking”
- → Separate PTE window from grant size — push for 2 years as a standard employee-friendly term
Each choice changes how hard Jordan leans on mission framing. You practice not apologizing for asking, not accepting share counts without dilution context, and knowing when to say “I need those numbers in writing before I can commit” without bluffing.
Then the coach reads you back to yourself.
Not a cap-table calculator. Not seventeen negotiation hacks. One observation about what you did, one adjustment for the next ask, one sentence you can carry into Tuesday’s call with the founder.
Sample coach debrief
“You opened with three clear asks — diluted percentage, 409A, PTE window. When Jordan said ‘equity is where the upside lives,’ you immediately dropped the PTE ask and said ‘I believe in the mission, I just want to make sure I’m not leaving money on the table.’ That sounded like you’d accept 0.18% without cap-table proof.
Try next time: Hold the transparency ask first: ‘I’m taking a cash discount for illiquid equity — I need fully diluted percentage and current 409A to evaluate that trade. Can you share those before we discuss grant size?’
Carry into Tuesday: ‘I’m committed to making this work. I’d like two offer versions — one cash-weighted and one equity-weighted — so we can see where the board has flexibility.’”
Questions candidates ask before the founder call
- Is this a replacement for a comp lawyer or Levels.fyi?
- No. Use Levels.fyi and Carta benchmarks to know what fair looks like. Use a lawyer for final term review if the grant is large. Kommi helps you rehearse what you’ll say when the founder frames your questions as lack of belief — so you show up to the call with practiced language, not a checklist you’re afraid to use.
- How is this different from salary negotiation with a recruiter?
- Recruiter calls center on band caps and signing bonuses. Founder calls center on mission framing, opaque cap tables, and equity-as-upside deflection. The roleplay covers founder-specific objections — not “top of band” from HR.
- Can I practice different founder personalities?
- Yes. Run the scenario with a mission-driven founder who guilt-trips on cash, a transparent founder who still won’t move on PTE window, or one who offers more shares but refuses dilution math. Three reps in fifteen minutes before your offer expires.
- I only join a startup every few years. Is $11.99/mo worth it?
- One mispriced equity grant can cost more than a decade of Kommi. You also get unlimited sessions across every hard conversation we ship — performance reviews, co-founder exits, promotion asks. Many candidates reuse Kommi long after they sign the offer.
$11.99 a month.
A coach with a calendar runs two hundred dollars an hour. Kommi runs roughly forty cents a day — and is awake when you can't sleep, which is when most of these conversations are actually being rehearsed anyway.
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