Investor question 39 of 50 · Valuation, cap table & terms
“How big is your option pool, and is it enough?”
Short answer: the investor is really asking will we need to top it up (at our expense)? Answer in three steps: (1) give the current pool and how much is granted; (2) size the post-round pool to a hiring plan; (3) show the top-up math.
What they're really asking
Will we need to top it up (at our expense)? Investors rarely care about the question on its own. They're testing whether you know your numbers cold, whether your assumptions are honest, and whether you can explain them simply.
How to answer, step by step
- Give the current pool and how much is granted.
- Size the post-round pool to a hiring plan.
- Show the top-up math.
An example answer
We have 1.4M options, 400k granted. Our hiring plan needs about 10% available after the seed, which is a top-up of about 330k options.
Figures are from Loopdesk, the fictional SaaS company in our sample files. Swap in your own numbers and keep the structure.
The answer that loses trust
Avoid
Accepting a 20% pool with no hiring plan behind it.
Where the proof lives
Before the meeting, find the number behind your answer. In our workbooks it lives in: ESOP, Priced Rounds. If you can open that tab and point to it, the follow-up question is easy.