Latest / The Series A Show with Fexingo: Early-Stage Funding, Pitch Decks, and Startup Milestones
How Startups Use Phantom Stock to Retain Talent Without Dilution
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore why a growing number of pre-IPO startups are turning to phantom stock plans as an alternative to traditional equity grants. They examine how companies like OpenAI (preparing for its IPO) and others in the AI space use these synthetic equity plans to reward key hires without diluting the cap table. The hosts walk through a real case: a Series B SaaS startup that replaced its option pool with a phantom plan tied to a liquidity event, cutting dilution by 40% while keeping retention rates high. They also touch on how the recent news of Snap spinning off its…
The skinny
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