Is there a legal reason? If not, founders who are hiring, please know that withholding information like this is the easiest way to lose a potential hire.
When a founder hides basic information that matters to their employees, what do you think they'll do when it's time to negotiate an acquisition or an IPO?
Sometimes the founder want to tell you, but they are being bullied by their investors. But again, should you ever join a startup with a weak founder and shitty investors?
> Here are the "409a valuation" reviews on FounderKit: https://founderkit.com/legal/409a-valuation/reviews
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization_table
And from "Stock dilution" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_dilution :
> Stock dilution, also known as equity dilution, is the decrease in existing shareholders' ownership percentage of a company as a result of the company issuing new equity.[1] New equity increases the total shares outstanding which has a dilutive effect on the ownership percentage of existing shareholders. This increase in the number of shares outstanding can result from a primary market offering (including an initial public offering), employees exercising stock options, or by issuance or conversion of convertible bonds, preferred shares or warrants into stock. This dilution can shift fundamental positions of the stock such as ownership percentage, voting control, earnings per share, and the value of individual shares.
It is reasonable for shareholders to request - in dated written form - Transparency with What-If scenarios for "let's just issue more shares to raise capital".
From "Ask HN: Value of “Shares of Stock options” when joining a startup" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19789785 :
> There are a number of options/equity calculators:
> https://tldroptions.io/ ("~65% of companies will never exit", "~15% of companies will have low exits", "~20% of companies will make you money")*
> https://comp.data.frontapp.com/ "Compensation and Equity Calculator"
> http://optionsworth.com/ "What are my options worth?"
> http://foundrs.com/ "Co-Founder Equity Calculator"
From foundrs:
> The equity numbers assume a typical 4-year vesting for all founders including the CEO, with no cliff. It also assumes that no significant salary is provided to any of the co-founders (if that is wrong, you are entering into an employee relationship, not a co-founder relationship). If a founder leaves, vesting applies and they forfeit the shares that have not vested yet.
Vesting > Ownership in startup companies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesting#Ownership_in_startup_c...