# Equity tranches

The gates a [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) passes to earn each slice of their own equity.

A searcher's stake is granted at the start and almost none of it is owned on day one. Stanford's [search fund](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/search-fund) primer describes the usual split as three equal tranches: one received on acquiring a company, one vesting over about four years of staying employed, and one vesting when performance benchmarks are met, usually a return the investors have to see first. Which gate carries which share is the whole negotiation, because the first two are events a searcher controls and the third is a number a business has to produce. Ask for the split and the hurdle in the same sentence, and ask what happens to the unvested part if the investors sell early.

In numbers: A 25% grant split evenly across three gates leaves a searcher holding about 8% the day they close, with the rest to be earned.

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/equity-tranches
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