Cap Table Dilution
What a priced round actually costs you in ownership — including the option pool trick.
Your numbers
Results
How it works
Post-money = pre-money + investment. Investor ownership = investment ÷ post-money.
So far, so fair. The subtlety is the option pool: in a standard term sheet, the new pool is sized as a percentage of the post-money but created before the investment — it comes out of the pre-money. That means existing shareholders (you) absorb all of the pool dilution while the investor's percentage stays untouched.
The classic mistake is negotiating hard on valuation and nodding through a 15% pool. A bigger pool at the same headline valuation is just a lower effective price — check the 'effective pre-money' output to see what you're really being paid.
Worked example
You raise $2M at $8M pre-money with a 10% post-money option pool. Post-money = $10M; the investor gets $2M ÷ $10M = 20%. The pool is 10% of post ($1M of value) carved out of the pre-money, so existing shareholders drop to 70% — and your effective pre-money is really $8M − $1M = $7M.