I am surprised by the distribution. Does the upper end (>$11M) represent founders or really just non-founding employees (I guess the Google-generation?)? I see 66 votes but not a single comment from anybody in that bracket.
It's unfortunate that ESOP has such a bad reputation. I have never been a non-founding employee, but my last venture paid out about $3M net to about 20 non-founding employees and 30 interns (about $4.5M gross before strike price). Roughly 10%/15% net/gross of the exit value. Ranging from high 66 digit all the way to 3 digits (for late-stage 4 months interns).
In my latest venture we simply give common shares to employees (reverse vesting but otherwise the same as the rest of the cap table).
It's unfortunate that ESOP has such a bad reputation. I have never been a non-founding employee, but my last venture paid out about $3M net to about 20 non-founding employees and 30 interns (about $4.5M gross before strike price). Roughly 10%/15% net/gross of the exit value. Ranging from high 66 digit all the way to 3 digits (for late-stage 4 months interns).
In my latest venture we simply give common shares to employees (reverse vesting but otherwise the same as the rest of the cap table).