I'm often asked by entrepreneurs for equity compensation benchmarks.  They want to know how much equity they should give a COO, a VP or a CEO.  Understanding these numbers is important for sizing an option pool and important for creating compensation plans for new members of the team.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a venture law firm, recently published the results of a study on the typical equity compensation packages for key managers after a Series A investment.  These numbers provide pretty useful guidance not only for compensation at the time of the Series A, but also for compensation at the Seed or Series B round as these metrics can be adjusted for likely dilution to back into a benchmark for equity at the Seed stage or otherwise.

It is worth noting that these numbers are not the end-all be-all for equity compensation.  They might fluctuate as market dynamics change and may not be representative of the entire market.  That said, they should provide entrepreneurs with some directional guidance.