What it does
Helps co-founders split equity fairly. You list every founder, enter their salaries and cash investment, answer a set of contribution questions, and Nautis converts the answers into points and percentages. The result is a transparent breakdown of who gets what — and why.
Who can use it
- Anyone in your organization with read access to the Equity Calculator module.
- Creating and editing calculations needs create or update permission and a verified email.
- The Equity Calculator must be enabled on your plan.
Where to find it
From the sidebar, open Fundraising and click Equity Calculator.
Create a calculation
- Click New Calculation (top right of the list page).
- The Create New Equity Calculation dialog opens.
- Fill in:
- Calculation Name (required) — for example, Founding Team Split 2026.
- Currency — defaults to your organization's currency. If you pick anything other than USD, an Exchange Rate field appears. Enter how many units of your currency equal 1 USD (Nautis usually pre-fills this from a live rate).
- Description — optional notes.
- Shared Access — pick teammates who should be able to open and edit this calculation.
- Click Create Calculation.
Nautis takes you straight into the edit page.
Configure the calculation
The edit page has a left column for inputs and a right column for live results.
Calculation details
- Confirm the Name, Description, and Currency.
- Set three optional milestone dates that affect timing-related contribution credit:
- Idea Stage Date — when the idea was conceived.
- MVP Launch Date — when the first product shipped.
- First Funding Date — when you closed any external capital.
These dates feed into the points formula, so be honest about when each founder joined.
Founders
- Click Add Founder to add another row (up to the founders limit).
- For each founder, fill in:
- Name (required).
- Annual Salary — what they actually take home today.
- Foregone Annual Salary — what they could be earning elsewhere but are giving up. This is a major contribution input.
- Cash Investment — money they've personally put into the company.
- Join Date — optional, helps weight time-based contributions.
- Click the trash icon next to a founder to remove them. You must keep at least one.
All money values are in the calculation's currency. Nautis converts to USD under the hood when the currency isn't USD, so points stay fair across regions.
Contribution questions
Below the founders, you'll see a list of contribution questions. Each question is tagged with the points it's worth (the harder the contribution, the higher the weight).
Two formats:
- Pick one (radio) — choose the single founder who best matches. For example, "Who came up with the original idea?"
- Pick all that apply (checkboxes) — tick every founder who contributed. For example, "Who has prior startup experience?"
Click an option to toggle it. The results panel on the right updates immediately.
Read the results
The right column has three sections that refresh in real time:
- Calculation Summary — the headline numbers: each founder's final equity percentage and total points.
- Equity Pie Chart — a visual split by founder.
- Points System — explains how points map to equity (each question's weight and which contributions matter most).
If the totals look off, scroll back up to the founders and questions to spot what's driving it. You'll usually find a missed checkbox or an unrealistic salary.
Save and export
- Click Save in the top right to persist the current state. You'll see a success toast.
- Click Export to open the export dialog. From there you can download the breakdown as a shareable file to send to co-founders or your lawyer.
You can come back any time to tweak inputs — the calculation lives in your organization until you delete it.
Tips & limits
- Be brutally honest about Foregone Annual Salary — it's one of the biggest signals of commitment, and inflating it skews the split.
- Run two or three what-ifs with different join dates and salaries before locking anything in.
- The pie chart updates the moment you change a value — use it as a sanity check.
- The contribution model is meant to start a conversation. It's a clean baseline; your team should still talk through edge cases.
- Currency conversion happens automatically when you pick a non-USD currency, but you must enter the exchange rate.
Frequently asked questions
Does this model funding rounds and dilution?
No. The Equity Calculator is for the initial split among co-founders based on contribution. It doesn't model investor rounds, option pools, or dilution waterfalls.
What does "foregone salary" mean?
The market salary you could be paid somewhere else but are giving up to work on this startup. Someone leaving a $200k role to take $50k contributes $150k of foregone salary per year — that's real economic skin in the game.
Can I add more than the founders limit allows?
No. Nautis caps the number of founders per calculation. Run two calculations or merge similar contributors.
What if a founder joins later?
Add them with a Join Date after the relevant milestone (Idea Stage, MVP, or Funding). The points system reduces their share of time-based contributions accordingly.
Can I share the result with my lawyer?
Use Export to generate a downloadable file with the full breakdown — names, inputs, points, percentages, and the questions answered.
Will Nautis send the file to investors automatically?
No. Sharing is manual. Either invite teammates via Shared Access or download and email the export.
Still need help?
Our team answers every message. Already a customer? Open a support ticket from inside Nautis.