I’m responsible for 30-40% of our traction and we’re worth $10M. How much am I worth?

8-10%

Hard to say without more information. Not saying this directly applies, but consider a hypothetical salesperson: She brings in 80% of all sales with a 40% close rate. Is she worth 80% of the company? Depends on how how much of her success is her sales ability and how much is what she's selling.

<p>That's a hard question to answer without knowing your company... Are you a co-founder or employee? Are you replaceable?</p>

Define "responsible". Startups are a team effort.

A.) Why do I have a feeling you're responsible for a portion of a 30-40% portion?

B.) Unless you're a founder, you're worth less than 1% when all is said and done.

Your worth = What you negotiate when you join the team.

Traction = Result of team work.

So, sit tight and get more traction.

Are you getting a commission check? If you are, then that's all you're worth.

Early on in my career, I solely developed a product (not the general idea) which ended up getting the company sold for close to 30M. There was even a group of "high value" individuals outside the main ownership group that got paid a 200-300k lump sum, because of what they negotiated before hand. I was left with nothing, not even a thank you for the 80hr work weeks. That was a lesson learned. Looking back, I could have forced their hand into that high-value group before the acquisition, but I didn't know the game. If you didn't negotiate anything before joining and you feel like you're worth it, tell them you are going to walk and see what they can offer on the equity side.

I would agree with the others above, most likely something that rounds up or down to 1% is what you'd be looking at if you are as important as you think you are.

Until human capital is valued more than financial capital, you're worth your paycheck