FAST Agreement Advisor Equity: The 0.25% to 1% Standard Explained

Startup advisor equity under the FAST agreement runs from 0.25 percent to 1 percent, allocated on two axes: how senior the advisor is and how mature the company is. FAST stands for Founder Advisor Standard Template, a free template published by Founder Institute, and it exists because advisor grants used to be negotiated from nothing every single time, which reliably ended with founders overpaying for a name. Usually a famous one.

FAST Agreement Advisor Equity Percentages: 0.25% to 1%

The template sorts advisors into three tiers by the depth of the commitment, and sorts companies into three stages. An advisor at the top tier joining at the idea stage sits at the top of the band. The same advisor joining a company with revenue and a funded round sits well below it, because the equity is worth more and the risk they are absorbing is lower.

Most founders are hunting for one number. It is the idea stage column, and it is where the widely published 0.25 to 1 percent range comes from.

What the Three Tiers Actually Mean

The tiers are defined by time and by obligation, not by how impressive the advisor is. That distinction is the entire value of the template.

A Standard advisor is someone you call when you are stuck. They respond, they are useful, and they are not carrying any of the work. A Strategic advisor takes on a defined area, shows up on a schedule and can be handed something to own. An Expert advisor is close to a fractional operator, involved deeply enough that their absence would be felt inside a month.

Founders get into trouble by grading advisors on reputation rather than on this scale. A well known name who answers a message every six weeks is a Standard advisor no matter what their title is, and paying Expert equity for Standard involvement is the single most common advisor mistake.

Why the Percentage Falls as the Company Matures

The same 0.5 percent means three different things across a company's life. That is why FAST scales the grant down instead of holding it flat.

At the idea stage the equity is close to worthless in cash terms, the risk that it stays worthless is very high, and the advisor is being paid for conviction as much as for advice. At the growth stage the equity has a real price, the company can often pay cash instead, and the advisor is taking almost no risk.

This is also why a grant made at the idea stage should not be quietly renewed at the same percentage two years later. Re granting on the old scale transfers a large amount of value for an unchanged level of involvement.

Vesting Is the Part That Protects You

The percentage gets all the attention and the vesting schedule does all the work. Under FAST the grant vests monthly across two years, which means an advisor who disengages after four months keeps roughly four months of equity rather than the whole grant.

That is what makes an advisor relationship safe to enter. You are not betting the whole grant on someone you have not tested. You pay in monthly instalments, as the value actually arrives.

Two clauses are worth checking before you sign anything. The first is termination, since either side should be able to end the relationship with short notice while the advisor keeps what has vested. The second is what happens on an acquisition, because acceleration language written for employees can behave strangely when applied to an advisor who has been on a monthly call.

• Grade the advisor on committed time, not on reputation.
• Put every grant on a two year monthly vest with no exception for famous people.
• Write down the specific commitment, meaning frequency and scope, inside the agreement.
• Re evaluate at the end of the term rather than auto renewing at the original percentage.
• Keep the total advisor pool bounded so it does not quietly become another funding round of dilution.

Where Founders Overpay

The failure mode is almost never a single bad grant. It is accumulation. Five advisors at 1 percent is 5 percent of the company, which is more than a seed investor buys for real money, handed to people with no obligation to show up.

The second failure mode is paying for access that never materialises. An advisor promising introductions is selling a future action, and future actions are exactly what a monthly vest is designed to price. If the introductions do not happen, the vesting stops meaning something and you renegotiate.

The third is treating advisor equity as free because it is not cash. It is the most expensive currency you have at the idea stage, since it is the only one you can spend before you have anything.

Advisors in Brazil and LATAM

In Brazil and LATAM the advisor question carries a specific weight, because what is genuinely scarce is not capital advice but domain operators with 10 or more years of local scar tissue. Someone who has actually operated inside a regulated Brazilian sector is worth an Expert tier grant. A generalist introduction network is not.

The practical adaptation is to be stricter about tiering and looser about geography. Take the local operator at Expert terms and put the well connected international name at Standard, which is usually the inverse of what founders instinctively do.

For the broader picture on advisor compensation, see How Much Equity Should a Startup Advisor Get. If you are sizing the pool these grants come out of, start with Startup Option Pool Size Benchmark.

Frequently asked questions

What are the FAST agreement advisor equity percentages?

The FAST template places advisor equity between 0.25 percent and 1 percent, set by advisor tier and company stage. At the idea stage a Standard advisor is around 0.25 percent, a Strategic advisor around 0.50 percent and an Expert advisor around 1 percent. Grants scale down at the Startup and Growth stages, because the equity is worth more and the advisor carries less risk. Percentages have varied across versions of the template, so read the version you are signing.

What is the FAST agreement?

FAST stands for Founder Advisor Standard Template, a free standardised advisor agreement published by Founder Institute. It exists to remove the case by case negotiation that used to surround advisor equity, which consistently produced oversized grants. It defines three advisor tiers, three company stages, a matching equity band and a standard vesting schedule.

How does advisor equity vest under FAST?

It vests monthly across a two year term. That is the protection mechanism. An advisor who disengages after four months keeps roughly four months of equity rather than the entire grant, so you are paying in instalments as the value arrives rather than betting the full grant on an untested relationship. Check the termination and change of control clauses before signing, since acceleration language written for employees behaves oddly for advisors.

How much equity should I give a startup advisor?

Grade the commitment before you pick the number. Monthly reactive help is a Standard grant near 0.25 percent at the idea stage, a defined ongoing workstream is Strategic near 0.50 percent, and near fractional operator involvement is Expert near 1 percent. Reputation is not the input, committed time is. Paying Expert equity for Standard involvement is the most common and most expensive advisor mistake founders make.

How many advisors is too many?

The risk is cumulative rather than individual. Five advisors at 1 percent is 5 percent of the company given to people with no obligation to appear, which is more than some seed investors buy with real capital. Bound the total advisor allocation explicitly, review each grant at the end of its term instead of auto renewing, and treat the equity as the most expensive currency you hold at the idea stage.