Raise Millions by Hustle Fund VC Page 23 Equity will translate to dollars when you IPO or get acquired, so you want to maintain enough equity to stay motivated to keep working on the business. So here’s the million-dollar question: How much pizza should you expect to give away when you raise money? This will depend largely on the amount your startup raises and the valuation at which you raise. We typically see founders give away 10-20% of their pizza per fundraising stage. The gold standard is for the founders to still own the majority (more than 50%) of the pizza after their Series A round. It’s common to lose the majority by the time you raise your Series B. But as I mentioned earlier, this shouldn’t bother you if the value of the pie is high enough. What SAFEs are and why you should care SAFE stands for “simple agreement for future equity.” SAFEs aren’t slices of pizza directly, but think of it like a ticket for a slice of pizza. You give these tickets to investors, which gives them the right to come back to you later to claim their slice (assuming the pizza is still alive and edible). In non-pizza terms, a SAFE isn’t equity you sell to your investors, rather it’s the promise of equity in the future. Think of SAFEs almost like an IOU; you’re not issuing any equity yet… but once you have an equity financing round, an acquisition, or an IPO, that SAFE will get converted into equity. If your startup crashes and burns, the SAFEs are worthless. hustlefund.vc / @hustlefundvc