Cap Table Logic, Applied to Your Own Life: Equity in Yourself
You would never let a startup dilute this carelessly. Why does your own time get away with it?
A founder who will fight for an extra half point in a term sheet will hand away a weekend, a favor, or a distraction with zero negotiation. Cap tables force discipline because the stakes are visible and denominated: percentages, dollars, control. Personal time rarely gets that same accounting, so it leaks without anyone noticing the dilution.
Every yes to a low-value commitment is a dilution event against your own cap table. Nobody sends a term sheet for a Tuesday afternoon, so nobody negotiates it. The hours just get issued away, one small decision at a time.
Vesting logic applies here too. Trust, financial habits, even reputation are earned over time, not handed over upfront, the same structure you would insist on for any equity grant. The fix is not more hustle. It is applying the instinct you already have on the company's cap table (protect the equity, question every issuance) to your own hours and habits instead of treating them as an unlimited resource.
Audit where your own equity is leaking. Join the list.
Spec Sheet
3 ITEMSWhat does "dilution" mean applied to personal time?
Every low-value commitment you say yes to (a favor, a distraction, an obligation) reduces the share of your time and attention going toward what actually matters, the same way issuing new shares reduces existing holders' ownership.
How is vesting relevant outside of equity grants?
Vesting logic (earned over time, not handed over upfront) applies to trust and financial habits too. Habits and reputations vest the same way equity does: gradually, and only with consistency.
What is the actual fix?
Not more hustle. Apply the same instinct you already use on your company's cap table (protect the equity, question every issuance) to your own hours.