AI Stock Option & Equity Planner

Inspiration: While there isn't a direct "Employee Stock Option Planning" service on Fiverr, within high-end services like "Financial Planning" and "Investment Advice," handling company equity incentives is an extremely common and high-value sub-need. Especially in the tech industry, stock options (ISOs, NSOs) and restricted stock units (RSUs) granted to employees represent enormous wealth, but their tax and decision-making complexities leave most employees confused and anxious.

Target Customers: Tech employees and executives working at startups or public companies, and anyone holding company equity incentives.

Pain Points:

1. Complex Decisions: "When should I exercise?" "Should I sell immediately after exercising or hold?" "What are the huge tax differences between different types of options (ISO vs. NSO)?" These questions are enough to drive the smartest engineers crazy.
2. Tax Traps: Wrong moves can lead to huge, unexpected tax bills, such as the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
3. Vague Value: Employees find it difficult to intuitively see the real value, potential growth, and risks of their "paper wealth."
4. Information Scarcity: Professional advice usually comes from expensive financial advisors, lacking an affordable, self-service planning tool.

Solution (Micro-SaaS): An AI-powered equity visualization and decision simulator. Users input their equity grant documents, and the AI helps them turn complex legal and financial information into an interactive, simulatable personal wealth dashboard.

MVP Core Features:

• Equity Information Visualization: Users upload or input their equity grant information (grant date, quantity, strike price, vesting schedule), and the tool converts it into clear charts showing the value of vested and unvested equity.
• AI Tax Impact Simulator: This is the core. Users can simulate exercising and selling at different times and stock prices, and the AI will calculate the potential federal and state taxes in real-time, especially the complex AMT calculation.
• Scenario Analysis: Provides simulations for scenarios like "if the company's stock price reaches $X" or "if the company is acquired," allowing users to see the impact of different outcomes on their wealth.
• Expiration and Window Reminders: Automatically tracks the expiration dates of all options and the company's trading windows, sending reminders via email or app push notifications to prevent users from missing critical decision points.

Development Investment (Technical Implementation): Medium-High. The core barrier is a deep understanding and accurate calculation of U.S. tax regulations.

• LLM API Calls:
  • Explanation & Advice: Use GPT-4o or Gemini to explain the results of complex tax calculations in plain language and provide general, non-investment educational information. For example: "The simulation shows that exercising all your ISOs at once will trigger the AMT, which could result in a large upfront tax burden. Click here to learn more about AMT."
• Core Technology:
  • Tax Logic Engine: Requires collaboration with tax experts to codify the complex tax rules for ISOs, NSOs, RSUs, and AMT. This is the product's moat.
  • Secure Data Handling: Equity information is extremely sensitive, making security the highest priority.

Traffic Acquisition & Validation Strategy (SEO Enhanced):

• Phase 1: Market Validation

  • "Unlock Your Equity Wealth" Landing Page: Title: "Your Company Stock Is Worth More Than You Think. Model Your Options, Understand Your Taxes, and Make Smarter Decisions."
  • Offer an Anonymous "Quick Calculator": Create a very simple, anonymous calculator where users input basic info (like option count, strike price, current stock price) to get a rough pre-tax value estimate, enticing them for a more detailed analysis.
  • Provide Value in Tech Communities (like Blind, Levels.fyi): In anonymous communities discussing compensation and equity, act as an expert answering complex questions and subtly mention how your tool can help them run personalized simulations.

• Phase 2: SEO-Driven Traffic Growth

  • Keyword Strategy:
    • Primary Keywords: "stock option calculator", "ISO vs NSO tax treatment", "AMT calculator for stock options".
    • Long-tail Keywords: "when to exercise incentive stock options", "how are RSUs taxed when they vest", "early exercise stock options startup".
  • Site Architecture:
    • Homepage: The core tool.
    • /learn (Learning Center): SEO goldmine. Create in-depth guides for each equity type, like /learn/iso, /learn/rsu, explained with charts and examples.
    • /blog:
      • Case Studies: "How a Google Engineer Saved $50k in Taxes by Optimizing Her RSU Sales".
      • Common Mistakes: "The Top 5 Mistakes People Make with Their Startup Stock Options".
  • Traffic Growth Flywheel:
    • Attract a high-value audience of tech employees with deep, accurate equity tax knowledge -> Guide them to use the free simulator to analyze their own situation -> Subscription for unlocking multi-scenario analysis, long-term planning, and reminders -> Collaborate with HR departments or financial advisors at tech companies.

Potential Competitors & Analysis:

• Main Competitors: Carta (primarily for companies), Personal Capital (as one of its features), independent financial advisors (RIAs).
• Competitors' Strengths:
  • Data Source: Carta has the original company-side data, which is very accurate.
  • Comprehensive Planning: Financial advisors offer comprehensive, personalized services.
• Competitors' Weaknesses:
  • Different Stance: Carta serves the company, not the employee. Personal Capital's features are broad but not deep.
  • High Cost: The fees for financial advisors are too high for many employees.
• Our Opportunity:
  • Employee-First: Our product is entirely on the employee's side, helping them maximize their wealth.
  • Focus & Depth: We only do equity planning, allowing us to be deeper and more powerful than any general financial tool.
  • Empowerment & Decision Support: We don't just display data; we empower users to become the decision-makers through powerful simulation features.