Startup employees hear a lot about equity, but most of the conversation is based on anecdotal data from assumptions, headlines, or individual experiences. To really understand what’s happening in the market, you need hard data to back up the trends.

In this episode, I sit down with Hamza Shad, Insights Manager at Carta, to unpack what Carta’s startup compensation data reveals about the current state of employee equity. With insights covering tens of thousands of private companies and around one million startup employees, Hamza brings a unique view into how compensation is changing across the startup ecosystem.

We’ll explore the biggest shifts in startup equity, including why employee equity grants have been increasing, how smaller startup teams are changing the value equation, and why AI companies are reshaping compensation trends. We’ll also dig into what the data says about who is seeing the biggest changes in equity grants and how non-founder employees should think about their ownership.

Finally, we’ll break down the biggest misconceptions around startup equity, what employees should understand when evaluating offers, and the market trends that could shape startup hiring and compensation in 2026.

Highlights:

• (00:00) Intro
• (01:11) Understanding Carta's Startup Compensation Data
• (03:12) Benchmark Your Startup Compensation Against Market Data
• (04:54) Why Startup Layoff Narratives Differ from Big Tech Reality
• (05:16) Smaller Teams, Higher Valuations, Better Equity Math
• (06:20) Employee Equity Up 13%, Executive Equity Only 1.2%
• (07:27) Stop Assigning Dollar Values to Early-Stage Equity
• (08:37) The AI Premium: Valuation Growth Over Dilution
• (09:59) AI Engineer Compensation Surge and Market Scarcity
• (11:30) Understanding Option Pools and Series C Equity Grants
• (12:58) Hiring Trends and IPO Liquidity as Market Indicators
• (13:14) The Evolution of Job Titles in 2026
• (15:19) Carta's Interactive Data Tools Coming Soon
• (15:59) Where to Find Carta's Reports and Stay Connected
• (17:00) Key Takeaways for Startup Employees in 2026

Resources:

• Follow me on Substack: https://nonfoundercrew.substack.com/ 
• Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciarosethomas 
• Non-Founder Crew’s website: https://www.nonfoundercrew.com/    
• Non-Founder Crew on Apple Podcasts
• Non- Founder Crew on Spotify
• Non-Founder Crew on YouTube

Here’s the link to download the full Carta State of Compensation Report: https://carta.com/data/startup-compensation-h2-2025/