Kudos for putting this together. The guide is long, but worthwhile if you&#x27;re going to be in this situation.<p>The employer-employee relationship is generally relatively straightforward if you&#x27;re being paid in regular income&#x2F;on contract: It&#x27;s easy to put a value on what you&#x27;re being paid because that is part of the contract. When you&#x27;re being granted equity, things get complicated because now you have an ownership interest or something that&#x27;s economically similar to this.<p>In order to value this, you have to understand the capital structure and corporate structure of your company. This can get complex, as the guide shows.<p>Of course, even if you fully understand these principles, the value of your equity stake may not be certain because the value of your company is not certain; but it will help you answer the question: <i>How much will my equity stake be worth if my company is sold for X dollars?</i><p>If you don&#x27;t fully understand how your equity value ties to the company&#x27;s value, you could end up like the employees of Good Technology:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloombergview.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2015-12-23&#x2F;good-technology-wasn-t-so-good-for-employees" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloombergview.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2015-12-23&#x2F;good-techno...</a>