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Venture Studio Equity Calculator

A venture studio takes a large stake in exchange for an idea, a team and operating work. This calculator shows if that stake pays for itself. Enter the terms of each path. The calculator compares what you own at exit, what that is worth today, and the highest studio stake that still beats going alone. Everything runs in your browser.

The company

$

The price you expect a buyer to pay for the whole company.

How long you expect to need to reach that exit on your own.

%

A dollar in the future is worth less than a dollar today. This rate sets how much less, per year. Use 0% to ignore timing.

Break-even studio stake: 26.7%. Highest expected value: Alone. See the full comparison

The three paths

Alone

You keep all the equity and do all the work.

%

Your own estimate. In BLS data, 50.6% of US businesses born in 2013 were still open after 5 years, and 34.7% after 10 years.

%

The share of the company you expect to sell to investors after this deal. Use 0% if you will not raise. Carta medians by stage

Accelerator

A small stake for cash, a network and a deadline.

%

YC takes a fixed 7% for $125,000. Most accelerators take 5% to 10%.

$

YC adds $375,000 on an uncapped MFN SAFE. That part converts in your next priced round, so add it under later rounds.

%

Your own estimate. The default equals the solo default, so the accelerator has to earn its stake.

%

The share of the company you expect to sell to investors after this deal. Use 0% if you will not raise. Carta medians by stage

Venture studio

A large stake for an idea, a team, capital and operating work.

%

Published ranges run from 15% to 80%. Alder VC says many studios default to 30% to 40%.

What the studio puts in

Count each person who works on your company for each month. Two engineers for six months is 12.

$

The default is the BLS median wage for US software developers, $135,980 in May 2025, divided by 12. It leaves out benefits.

$136K of studio work in total.

Time to first customers that the studio removes. The studio path reaches the exit this much sooner.

%

Your own estimate. The default is the solo default times 1.3. GSSN, a network of studios, reports 30% higher success rates for studio startups.

%

The share of the company you expect to sell to investors after this deal. Use 0% if you will not raise. Carta medians by stage

How the three paths compare

Alone

Highest

Expected value today

$1.1M

You own at exit
100%
Your share of the exit
$10.0M
Years to exit
6
Chance of reaching the exit
20%

Accelerator

Expected value today

$1.0M

You own at exit
93%
Your share of the exit
$9.3M
Years to exit
6
Chance of reaching the exit
20%
Valuation the stake implies
$1.8M
Chance needed to match going alone
21.5%

Venture studio

Expected value today

$1.0M

You own at exit
65%
Your share of the exit
$6.5M
Years to exit
5.5
Chance of reaching the exit
26%
Valuation the stake implies
$387K
Chance needed to match going alone
29.3%

Expected value is your share of the exit, times the chance of reaching it, discounted to today at 10% a year. The implied valuation is what the partner puts in, divided by the stake. A low number means you sell equity cheaply.

Break-even studio stake

26.7%

This is the highest studio stake at which the studio path still matches going alone.

Your entered stake of 35% is above the break-even. With these inputs, going alone gives you more expected value than the studio path.

At your entered stake of 35%, the studio path needs a 29.3% chance of reaching the exit to match going alone.

12 questions to ask a venture studio

Ask these before you sign a term sheet. A good studio answers each one in writing.

  1. What stake do you ask for, and how did you set it? Steve Blank writes that the answer shows what the studio thinks your work is worth.
  2. Is the stake above 60%? Blank writes that firms that ask for more than 60% "are actually hiring an employee rather than a founder."
  3. Who holds the stake: the studio company, a studio fund, or the partners themselves?
  4. Do my shares vest? Does the studio's stake vest or depend on milestones too?
  5. Who pays to build the product, and who writes the code?
  6. Do you charge fees, or ask for part of the next round back to pay for services?
  7. Which people work on my company in month twelve, and how many other companies do they support?
  8. Do you get pro rata rights, a board seat or a veto in later rounds?
  9. Who owns the code, the brand and the idea if I leave or we split up?
  10. What happens to my shares if the studio raises a new fund, sells itself or closes?
  11. Can you show me your last three companies, including the ones that closed?
  12. Do you need a venture-scale exit? Does a profitable company that never raises work for you?

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Talking to venture studios?

Founder Ventures is a venture studio for bootstrapped B2B SaaS founders. We start from proven demand and give each company shared infrastructure and a founder network. Our splits are published on the homepage. Ask us the 12 questions above.

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How the calculator works

The calculator takes the same company down three paths. You set the exit value and the time to exit once. For each path you set the stake the partner takes, what the partner puts in, your chance of reaching the exit, and any later funding rounds.

Your ownership at exit is what is left after the partner's stake and after later rounds. The studio path reaches the exit sooner by the months the studio saves you. The calculator discounts each payoff to today, then multiplies it by your chance of reaching the exit. The result is the expected value of each path.

The break-even studio stake comes from the same formula. The calculator sets the studio path's expected value equal to the solo path's and solves for the stake. The exit value cancels out, so the break-even depends only on the success chances, the time saved, the discount rate and later rounds.

Formula for each path

Expected value = chance of exit x (1 - stake) x (1 - later rounds) x exit value / (1 + discount rate) ^ years to exit

Where the defaults come from

What the calculator leaves out

The calculator treats an exit as one event at one price. It ignores salary, taxes, liquidation preferences and the chance of a smaller exit. Studios and accelerators also give things that are hard to price, such as a network and a second opinion. Put their effect into the success chance or the months saved. A success chance is always a guess. Try a few values and watch how the break-even stake moves.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much equity does a venture studio take?

Published ranges disagree. Steve Blank wrote in 2023 that studios take 30% to 80%. Alder VC wrote in 2026 that stakes run from 15% to 50% at incorporation, and that many studios default to 30% to 40%. Accelerators take 5% to 10%. Judge the stake against the work the studio does, and use the calculator to find your break-even.

What is the venture studio equity model?

The studio creates or validates the idea, supplies a team and capital, and takes a stake when the company is incorporated. Your share then dilutes in each later round. In Alder VC's example, a founder who gives a studio 25% holds 75% at incorporation, 60% after a seed round and 48% after a Series A.

Venture studio vs accelerator: which costs less equity?

The accelerator. YC takes a fixed 7% for $125,000 and adds $375,000 on an uncapped MFN SAFE. A studio usually takes 15% to 50%. The studio does much more of the work, so the real question is if that work raises your chance of success enough to cover the extra stake. The calculator shows the chance each path needs.

Venture studio vs bootstrapping: when is the studio worth it?

The studio is worth it when its help raises your chance of reaching an exit, or gets you there sooner, by enough to cover its stake. Say you have a 20% chance alone. If a studio takes 35%, it must lift that chance to about 29% in the default case to break even. Below that, going alone gives you more expected value.

What is the break-even studio stake?

It is the highest stake a studio can take before the studio path is worth less to you than going alone. The calculator finds it by setting the two expected values equal. The exit value cancels out, so only the success chances, the months saved, the discount rate and later rounds move it.

Is a studio stake above 60% a red flag?

Steve Blank thinks so. He writes that firms asking for more than 60% "are actually hiring an employee rather than a founder." Above 50%, the studio holds a majority of the shares. Ask what you get in return, and if your shares vest on the same terms as theirs.

Where do the success chances come from?

From you. No public dataset measures the chance of an exit on each path. The page gives anchors. BLS data shows 50.6% of US businesses born in 2013 were open after 5 years and 34.7% after 10 years. GSSN reports that 72% of studio startups that raise a seed round go on to a Series A.

Does this calculator use Founder Ventures' terms?

No. You enter every term, so you can compare any studio, Founder Ventures included. Our own splits are published on the Founder Ventures homepage.

Sources

  1. Steve Blank, Is a Venture Studio Right for You? (January 17, 2023)
  2. Alder VC, Venture Studio Equity: What the Cap Table Actually Looks Like (April 12, 2026)
  3. Ben Yoskovitz, Am I Getting a Good Deal from a Venture Studio? (Focused Chaos, January 28, 2025)
  4. Y Combinator, The YC Deal (read October 9, 2026)
  5. High Alpha, Why Venture Studios Are the Future of Company Building (December 15, 2020), citing the GSSN 2020 report
  6. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 34.7 percent of business establishments born in 2013 were still operating in 2023 (January 12, 2024)
  7. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers (median wage, May 2025)

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