PrivateTechShares
PrivateTechShares provides free calculators and sourced guides that help founders and employees estimate startup share value, model option exercise costs and dilution, and prepare a private secondary sale across the US and Europe.
About PrivateTechShares
Overview
PrivateTechShares is an education and tooling resource for holders of private-company equity — founders, employees with vested ESOP options, ex-employees and early angels across the US and Europe. It bundles a discount-based stake estimator, an option exercise calculator, an exit waterfall model, country tax guides for seven European jurisdictions, and a paid Equity Toolkit that maps an eight-phase secondary sale process with defined professional stop points.
Key capabilities
- Stake estimator — prices a holding off the last-round preferred price, then applies discounts for common shares and illiquidity to return a range rather than a single figure.
- Exercise calculator — computes strike cost and paper spread, with an AMT-aware variant for US ISO grants.
- Readiness check — a four-question flow covering vested status, right of first refusal and board approval.
- Paid toolkit — PDF guide, Excel deal room and editable Word templates, sold in US, Europe and combined editions.
Who it's for
Founders, co-founders, current and former ESOP holders, and early angels who need to model what a secondary sale could net before committing to a transaction.
Practical notes
The platform is deliberately not a broker or marketplace: it holds no shares, introduces no buyers and takes no transaction cut. Estimates explicitly exclude tax and fees, so outputs serve as orientation ahead of professional advice rather than as formal valuations.
Pros
- Free estimator and calculators run without any sign-up, account or email gate
- Covers both US and European mechanics, including transfer and tax playbooks for seven countries
- Published Equity Position Methodology cites and dates its tax and valuation sources
- Clear separation between educational content and regulated advice, with STOP points flagged for lawyers, notaries and tax advisers
- 30-day money-back guarantee plus a free starter kit for trialling before purchase
Cons
- No buyer introductions, brokerage or escrow, so users must source counterparties and close deals independently
- Estimator output is a coarse discount-based range that excludes tax and transaction fees
- The full process detail and the personalised Equity Position Report sit behind paid tiers
