Model RSUs, stock options, vesting, exercise costs, dilution, liquidity scenarios, taxes, and projected equity compensation.
RSUs, ISOs, NSOs, and restricted stockUp to 12 grantsNo data saved or fetched
Educational scenario estimates only. Outputs are not tax, legal, investment, valuation, or exercise advice.
Guide
How to model equity compensation
How equity compensation works
Equity awards can create value through vesting, settlement, exercise, ownership, and a later sale. Those events are distinct, and this calculator models them separately.
RSUs versus stock options
RSUs represent a promise to deliver shares or value after applicable conditions. Options provide a right to buy shares at a strike price and can require cash before any sale.
ISO versus NSO options
ISOs and NSOs can have different tax treatment. This tool preserves the entered award type but does not determine legal qualification or actual tax treatment.
Restricted stock and 83(b) assumptions
Restricted stock may be purchased before restrictions lapse. An enabled 83(b) input models ordinary income at purchase using entered assumptions, but does not verify the election or filing deadline.
Vesting schedules and cliffs
A cliff defers the first vesting tranche. After it, remaining shares vest in equal installments or on entered custom milestones; whole-share schedules place the rounding remainder in the final tranche.
Service vesting versus settlement
Vesting satisfies a service condition; settlement delivers shares. Double-trigger RSUs may be service-vested yet remain unsettled until a liquidity trigger.
Single-trigger and double-trigger RSUs
Single-trigger awards can settle at vesting or a selected settlement date. Double-trigger awards use the later of service vesting and liquidity, plus any entered delay.
Strike price, exercise cost, and intrinsic value
Option intrinsic value is eligible shares multiplied by the positive difference between share value and strike price. Exercise cost remains positive even when an option is underwater.
Exercising options before liquidity
A private-company option exercise can require strike cost, fees, and modeled tax before shares can be sold. The model keeps this cash outflow separate from paper value.
Expiration and post-termination windows
The modeled deadline is the earliest entered original expiration, post-termination deadline, or company-provided override. The calculator does not reclassify an ISO or NSO.
Public value versus private paper value
Public-company value can be paired with sale assumptions. Private-company shares may not be sellable, so paper value, liquidity value, and realized cash are shown separately.
Dilution and ownership
Direct dilution reduces modeled share value once. Share-count dilution instead estimates ownership from current and additional fully diluted shares; neither is a verified cap table.
Liquidity, lockups, and restrictions
User-entered liquidity timing, lockups, discounts, fees, and sellable caps determine when modeled proceeds may occur. Company values and exit prices are assumptions.
Gross and after-tax proceeds
After-tax proceeds subtract acquisition cost, transaction costs, and modeled tax from modeled sale proceeds. Historical costs are counted once in the event cash flow.
Withholding versus tax
Withholding is shown separately and does not represent final tax liability. Tax treatment depends on facts not captured here, and future dilution is uncertain.
What is not calculated
The calculator does not provide market prices, a 409A appraisal, cap-table verification, official tax rates, a complete AMT calculation, legal advice, tax advice, or investment advice.
Transparent methodology
Formulas, assumptions, and limitations
Vesting and rounding
Before a cliff, vested shares are zero. On the cliff date the cliff tranche is included. When whole shares are required, intermediate tranches round down and the final milestone receives the remainder.
Options
Intrinsic value equals eligible shares × max(0, share value − strike price). Exercise cash equals shares × strike plus fees and optional modeled exercise tax.
Dilution and ownership
Direct dilution multiplies undiluted value by one minus the entered percentage. Share-count mode divides eligible shares by current fully diluted shares plus entered additions; the two modes are not applied together.
Cash flow and solvers
Modeled proceeds subtract acquisition cost, tax, and transaction costs. Ending paper value remains separate from annual and cumulative cash flow. Solvers use finite guards, explicit bounds, 80 iterations, and deterministic tolerances.
Private-company shares may not be sellable. Exit prices, company values, liquidity, dilution, and tax rates are user assumptions. Vesting does not always mean settlement or liquidity, option exercise may require cash before sale, simplified ISO AMT is incomplete, and 83(b) treatment is not verified. Outputs are not tax, legal, valuation, or investment advice.
Common questions
Equity compensation FAQ
How do I calculate the value of equity compensation?
Enter each grant, vesting terms, share-value scenarios, and any exercise, liquidity, dilution, sale, and tax assumptions. The calculator applies one grant engine to all three independent scenarios.
What is the difference between vested and unvested equity?
Vested equity has satisfied the modeled service schedule; unvested equity has not. Vesting does not always mean settlement, exercise, or liquidity.
How do RSUs work?
RSUs service-vest on a schedule and settle under the selected single-trigger or double-trigger model.
What is the difference between single-trigger and double-trigger RSUs?
Single-trigger RSUs can settle after service vesting. Double-trigger RSUs also require the entered liquidity trigger.
How do stock options work?
Options let you model buying vested shares at a strike price before an effective expiration deadline.
What is the difference between ISOs and NSOs?
The model applies different simplified entered tax assumptions but makes no legal classification conclusion.
What is a strike price?
It is the per-share exercise price paid to acquire option shares.
How is option intrinsic value calculated?
Eligible option shares are multiplied by the greater of zero or share value minus strike price.
What happens when an option is underwater?
Its current intrinsic value is zero while its strike cost remains positive.
How does a one-year cliff work?
No shares vest before the cliff date; the cliff tranche vests on that date.
How are custom vesting schedules calculated?
Custom rows use either percentages totaling 100% or shares totaling the available grant shares, with strictly ascending dates.
What does it cost to exercise stock options?
Modeled cash required includes shares times strike price, selected fees, and optional modeled exercise tax.
What is a post-termination exercise window?
It is an entered number of days used with termination to model an earlier exercise deadline.
How does dilution affect equity value?
Direct dilution reduces modeled share value; share-count dilution changes estimated ownership using projected fully diluted shares.
What is paper value?
Paper value is modeled equity value that has not necessarily become sellable or cash.
How are private-company shares valued?
Only from user-entered common values or scenarios; they are not presented as guaranteed or marketable.
Does the calculator estimate taxes?
Yes, only when enabled and only from editable effective-rate assumptions supplied by the user.
What is the simplified ISO AMT estimate?
It applies the entered AMT rate to positive ISO exercise spread and omits exemptions, phaseouts, credits, and AMTI.
Does withholding equal the final tax bill?
No. Modeled withholding is shown separately from modeled tax and actual liability may differ.
How is an 83(b) election modeled?
When enabled, purchase-date spread uses the entered ordinary-income assumptions; validity and tax basis are not verified.
What share price is needed to reach a target value?
A bounded deterministic solver searches from $0 to $1,000,000 per share and includes option strike prices.
Is projected equity value guaranteed?
No. Share values, exits, liquidity, dilution, taxes, and sale availability are uncertain user assumptions.
