Round Details
Valuation
$
The company's value before this round's money goes in.
$
Total being raised in this round.
Current Ownership (Pre-Round)
%
%
%
Remaining: 10% - checks out.
Founder % + investor % + option pool must equal 100%. Adjust your numbers.
Option Pool Target (Post-Round)
%
Typically 10–20% for seed, 15–20% for Series A. If lower than current pool after dilution, no shuffle is needed.
Key Numbers
Post-Money Valuation
$6M
$5M pre + $1M raise
New Investor Ownership
16.7%
$1M ÷ $6M post-money
Founder Dilution
−28.0pp
from round + pool shuffle
Founder Ends Up With
52.0%
down from 80%
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Where the Dilution Comes From
Dilution from New Investor
—
standard round dilution
Dilution from Pool Shuffle
—
issued pre-money
Ownership Split - Before & After
Before Round
80%
10%
After Round
52%
15%
16.7%
Founders
Existing Investors
Option Pool
New Investors
Cap Table: Before vs. After
Fully diluted, including option pool. Percentages may not sum to exactly 100% due to rounding.
| Shareholder | Before Round | After Round | Change | Ownership |
|---|
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How equity dilution and cap table math works
Most dilution calculators only model the round itself: new investor buys X% at post-money valuation, everyone else shrinks proportionally. That's the easy part. What they skip is the option pool shuffle.
Investors typically require the option pool to be created or topped up before their investment closes - which means the new option shares are issued at the pre-money stage. This dilutes founders and existing investors before the investor's price is even set, making the effective pre-money valuation lower than the headline number.
Post-money = Pre-money + Raise
New investor % = Raise ÷ Post-money
Required pool (pre-round) = Target pool % ÷ (1 − new investor %)
Pool shuffle added = max(0, Required pool − Current pool)
Founder post-round = Founder pre-round × (non-pool holders) / (non-pool + shuffle added) × (1 − new investor %)
New investor % = Raise ÷ Post-money
Required pool (pre-round) = Target pool % ÷ (1 − new investor %)
Pool shuffle added = max(0, Required pool − Current pool)
Founder post-round = Founder pre-round × (non-pool holders) / (non-pool + shuffle added) × (1 − new investor %)
If the target pool is lower than what the current pool would become after normal round dilution, no shuffle is needed. This calculator handles both cases automatically.
Frequently asked questions about equity dilution and cap tables
The option pool shuffle is a term coined by VC Fred Wilson. Investors typically require that a new option pool be created or topped up before their investment closes. Because these new option shares are issued pre-money (before the investor buys in), the dilution falls entirely on the founders and existing shareholders, not the incoming investors. In practice, your effective pre-money valuation is lower than the headline number. This simulator shows you exactly how many percentage points of dilution come from the round versus the option pool shuffle.
A SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) doesn't immediately dilute founders - it converts to equity at a future priced round, typically at a discount or with a valuation cap. A priced round sets a valuation and issues shares immediately. For dilution modeling purposes, what matters is the effective pre-money valuation, the amount raised, and the resulting ownership percentages. Both types create the same economic outcome at conversion.
Post-money valuation is simply pre-money valuation plus the investment amount. If a company raises $2M at a $8M pre-money valuation, the post-money valuation is $10M. The new investor owns 20% ($2M ÷ $10M). However, if there is an option pool shuffle, the effective dilution to existing shareholders is higher than the simple round math suggests, because additional shares were issued before the investor's price was set.
Most institutional seed investors expect a 10-15% option pool post-round. Series A investors typically want 15-20% post-round. If your current pool is already at or above those levels, there is no shuffle required - the dilution only comes from the new investment. The higher the target pool percentage, the more existing shareholders get diluted before the round closes.
Typical seed rounds dilute founders by 15-25% of the fully diluted cap table. When you layer in a 10-15% option pool (most of which may be newly created via the shuffle), total dilution from a seed round often runs 25-35% in practice. At Series A, another 20-25% is typical. A founder who starts at 100% and raises a seed plus Series A might hold 45-60% going into the growth stage - depending on valuation, round size, and how much the option pool expanded each time.
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