Employee ownership is especially crucial for startups. In the early stages, when money is tight, offering shares to employees can be an excellent way for startups to attract and keep top talent. But equity is not just for new companies. Established businesses can use it, too, and offering an ownership stake can help to make the company more attractive as a place to work. In this presentation, we’ll give a short introduction to equity compensation, how it’s evolved over the years in Europe and where the market is gravitating towards.