As has now become an annual tradition, today is exactly 8 years since we publicly launched Outseta. Here's our annual recap on our 8th year of bo

Our SaaS Start-up’s Equity Allocation, Expenses, and Growth After Eight Years

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2025-01-10 13:00:06

As has now become an annual tradition, today is exactly 8 years since we publicly launched Outseta. Here's our annual recap on our 8th year of bootstrapping our SaaS start-up.

The equity everyone on our team holds is a direct reflection of the total amount of time that they've elected to work for equity in Outseta, relative to all other employees. Here's how ownership shakes out at the end of 2024.

Our objective is to build a team where everyone acts like owners because they are owners in a material way. Typical VP-level equity grants in tech companies are often in the range of .5% after a 4-year vesting period.

All things considered, I continue to love this model and I think it's served us really well. It was a huge strategic advantage in our early years and it continues to provide a clear path that helps everyone understand how their compensation will grow over time.

However, Outseta is a relatively low cost product—that means it takes a lot of new customers to afford each incremental hire. When I talk to other founders about our challenges, I routinely hear "You could make four $50,000/year hires instead of one at $210,000/year."