The Slicing Pie Handbook
Amazon: The Slicing Pie Handbook: Perfectly Fair Equity Splits for Bootstrapped Startups
"The Slicing Pie Handbook" is a book written by Mike Moyer that presents a model for fairly allocating equity in early-stage, bootstrapped startups. The book outlines the "Slicing Pie" model, which is a dynamic equity split approach designed to help founders and early employees divide ownership in a company based on their contributions over time.
Key points from the book:
1. The Slicing Pie model is based on the principle that a person's share of the equity should be proportional to their contribution to the company's growth.
2. Contributions can include time, money, ideas, relationships, supplies, equipment, and other resources that help the company grow.
3. The model uses a unit called "slices" to track each person's contributions. The value of one slice is determined by the company's founders.
4. As participants contribute more to the company, they earn more slices, and their share of the pie (equity) increases proportionally.
5. The model is designed to be fair, as it accounts for the fact that early contributors take on more risk than those who join later when the company is more stable.
6. The Slicing Pie model is most suitable for early-stage startups that have not yet raised significant outside funding or generated substantial revenue.
The book provides a detailed explanation of how to implement the Slicing Pie model, including formulas for calculating slice values, handling departures, and transitioning to a more traditional equity structure as the company grows. It has gained popularity among entrepreneurs looking for a fair and transparent way to allocate equity in their startups.
