Advisor Equity : less than 1%

College friends start a company together, their professor “advises” them- has 15% of the equity.

College friends start a company together, their professor joins the company as a “co-founder”, but is too busy to be involved in the day-to-day (aka advisor)- has 20% of the equity.

You would think instances like these are no longer common. I recently came across both - from a top university, on the same day.

What is the market rate for advisor equity grants for startups - in the US. ?

What are advisors getting? What is the number % that makes people go "that's reasonable"? It seems to be.....

Advisor Equity Grant : less than 1%

If your advisor has more than this, it may raise eyebrows (or red flags) and you will be asked about it.

Here's the meta analysis

According to a Holloway guide to equity compensation, an advisor may receive between 0.25% and 1% of shares, depending on the stage of the startup and the nature of the advice provided.

The median advisor grant is 0.24% with 70% of advisor grants being less than 0.5% of the company. - Carta

Silicon Valley Bank says "An advisor may receive between 0.25% and 1% of shares, depending on the stage of the startup and the nature of the advice provided."

One interesting things is that equity grant for advisors seem to be higher for the UK (and possibly outside the US in general). "It seems the neat round number of 1% is a popular amount of equity to give advisors" - SeedLegals.

4/17/2024 - Update