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What is a 409A Valuation?

A 409A valuation establishes the Fair Market Value of your company's common stock and is commonly undertaken before issuing stock options to employees.

When you need a 409A valuation

You need a 409A valuation:

  • Before issuing your first stock options to employees

  • After raising a round of capital

  • Once every 12 months (or after a material event like a capital raise)

  • When approaching an IPO, merger, or acquisition

How to get a 409A valuation with Cake

Cake makes it simple to get compliant 409A valuations:

  1. Navigate to Equity compliance from your main menu

  2. Select 409A from the dropdown

  3. Click Request to start

  4. Complete the required information (allow about 20 minutes)

  5. Receive your draft 409A within 3 business days

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You can also upload an existing 409A valuation by clicking 'Upload existing' in the top right corner of the 409A section.

Adding valuations to your offers

Once complete, you can easily add your 409A valuation to your stock option offers directly within Cake.

Learn more about 409A valuations

For a comprehensive guide to understanding 409A valuations, including when you need them and how they work:

Complete 409A Valuation Guide