How many options should a Product Manager at a 15-person startup?
Wow, 15 people and you are the 15th? To be honest, you would be lucky to get any stock- but if you do get stock it would probably be under 10 basis points or less than 1/10th of 1% of the shares outstanding. You might get close to nothing at all. Think about it this way. With the $30M raised, they have a valuation of at least $60M, maybe $80M- so assuming the lower number the book value of your 1/10th of your 1% is worth $60,000 if the company meets its growth targets. If you are getting paid $300,000 a year or some very high salary (this puts you in the top 1% of Americans in terms of salary) than you could possibly negotiate more, but they may just laugh in your face and say, we are paying you great money, why do you need stock as well? If you are working for peanuts, say $50,000 per year, than you could demand to get compensated with more stock for the hit you are taking in salary. No, if you are crazy talented, and you have product-mangered amazing products for companies that have all have had great exits at high multiples, maybe you could ask for a lot more, but given the basic question you asked, it is unlikely you would get very much stock at all. You are WAY too late to the party to expect any more than that. Now if the facts were different and you were the 2nd employee hired in a 15-person startup, you would have likely received stock in almost every year since the company was formed, and you wouldnt worry about stock options in the Series C round, because you would already have a much more significant pile of options saved up. Hope this is helpful.