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Equity equation...

You should give them a vested share amount equal in proportion to the amount of value you feel they will add to the company. This is usually a variable range (and it varies), but something along the lines of: Every new developer adds .25% of value to the company minimum. Higher caliber people in the same position will add .35% of value. So your equity range, per developer, will be .25%-.35% (in this example).

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Pretty sure that your answer should adjust for whether it's employee #4 or employee #20,004.

It already does. Employee #4 adds a lot more value to the company than employee #20,004.

You could make the case that this is already embedded in the equation - a great employee #4 would add way more value than an equally great employee #35, since they will have more influence over the direction, will write a higher percentage of the total code, etc.

At what stage? For a pre-money or single-digit employee, 0.35% is extremely small. For a company that has 50 developers and is about to IPO, it's a lot.

For every stage.

Give stock in compensation for calculated value add. As you move through stages/growth, the value-add of each new employee will (should!) diminish if you're doing everything else right.

.35% was my example, based on rough memory of a prior startup. Your mileage may vary. Void where prohibited by law..

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