I often get the question, “how much equity should I offer my new employee?”, from our founders. Unfortunately, there is no one right answer. You have to take a step back and think about the context and bigger picture. In a perfect word, employees and companies would match so well that the employees would be so content with their job that they wouldn’t even need compensation. In reality, you do need to offer compensation, and in start-ups that comes in the form of cash and equity. If you find and employee that is a good match and can put together a compensation package that satisfies both parties, you will have an amazing employee for years to come.