Whether you’re just setting up your first option plan or managing complex capital structures, Eton delivers 409A valuation services tailored to your stage of growth.
A 409A valuation sets the fair market value (FMV) strike price of your common stock.
Under IRC 409A, all companies that offer stock options to employees and stakeholders have a legal requirement to get a 409A valuation annually, or upon experiencing a material event.
Eton ranks among the best 409A valuation firms, trusted by thousands of clients to deliver audit-ready valuations, including well-known companies like Perplexity, Substack, and Pinterest.
We’re a boutique team of Stanford Law lawyers and Ex-Big 4 Consultants that provide accurate, compliant 409A reports with the level of customer support founders expect but rarely get from larger 409A providers.
For early stage startups, we provide audit-defensible 409A valuations founders can trust at affordable rates.
For late stage startups, we provide professional rigor, a hands on partnership, and a full suite of valuation services your finance team can lean on.
For urgent timelines, we offer a 1-day turnaround option. Contact us here to learn more.
Our reports are signed, independent, and fully IRS-compliant. This ensures safe harbor protection and gives you peace of mind knowing your valuation won’t get dismissed in an audit.
We don’t just send a PDF. We walk you through the findings and answer every question so you understand the outcome and are ready to present it with clarity to your board or investors.
Early-stage founders have bigger things to focus on. To help you keep momentum without roadblocks, we move quickly without sacrificing accuracy or reliability.
We bring a proven track record in handling intricate capital structures, providing valuations that leadership can rely on in every high-stakes setting.
Our valuations are prepared by professionals with legal, accounting, and Big 4 backgrounds, delivering realistic results that align with both regulatory expectations and business needs.
Beyond 409A, we support ASC 718, purchase price allocations, and gifting valuations for estate planning with the same rigor, giving you one trusted partner at every stage.
Eton works with many Attivo Partners clients and we are confident introducing Eton to our clients for their valuation needs. Eton is easy to work with, process oriented and reasonably priced. Eton listens to what our client needs, understands their business model, and provides a level and ease of communication that is rare among valuation firms. Eton’s old-school approach to customer service is refreshing!
The team at Eton is fantastic! Those guys cut their teeth as securities lawyers at premier firms in Silicon Valley so no matter how complex a situation we have presented to them, they are quick on the uptake, and they quickly produce great work. Plus, I can talk to the founder of the firm by simply picking up the phone. Eton truly exceeds our expectations!
As a firm, Kruze Consulting is extremely confident in introducing Eton to our clients for valuation work. Eton is super responsive, reasonably priced, and they take customer service to impressive levels. Eton is a great partner for us and the companies we work with!
Working with Eton has been a fantastic experience, and they have been a great partner of ours. The team provides us with well-priced services, delivers quickly and is very responsive to our requests and questions, whether those communications are from our board of directors, our outside counsel, or from our financial statement auditors.
Most 409A valuations at Eton are completed in ten days.
Our process includes information collection, methodology selection, full valuation modeling, a draft report by day seven, and final sign-off by day ten.
If you’re on a tight deadline we also offer a one-day expedited option at a small premium.
Your time investment is minimal after submitting documents; our team handles the analysis from there.
Eton offers two tailored 409A valuation packages:
Both packages are priced fairly for the level of rigor, documentation, and support included. For an exact quote, you can contact us and we’ll walk you through what applies to your company.
Eton ranks among the top 409A valuation firms because we deliver Big 4-level technical rigor with the speed, affordability, and customer support founders need, thanks to our boutique structure.
Our analysts come from Big 4 valuation practices and leading law schools, which means every report reflects deep expertise, not automated shortcuts.
Every valuation is:
We tailor each valuation to your company’s stage, walk you through the reasoning behind every assumption, and support you through draft review and sign-off.
This level of diligence is why startups like Perplexity, Substack, and Pinterest trust Eton for accurate, defensible valuations that consistently pass auditor and IRS scrutiny.
Many 409A valuation companies lean heavily on automation to cut costs, which often leads to inaccurate reports that don’t meet IRS standards, or deliver high-cost, slow-turnaround reports to ensure quality.
Eton takes a different approach:
You get a valuation that’s fast, accurate, and defensible, without the trade-offs founders often face with lower-cost automated 409A providers or larger firms with higher fees and long turnaround times.
Reputable 409A providers ensure compliance by delivering valuations that meet IRS safe-harbor standards. This includes:
A safe-harbor-compliant report is presumed valid unless the IRS proves it “grossly unreasonable,” which significantly reduces risk for both the company and its employees.
At Eton, every valuation we deliver qualifies for safe-harbor protection and has passed auditor and IRS review.
If your report fails to comply with IRS regulations, for example, if it hasn’t been completed by a qualified appraiser with reasonable methodology or relies too heavily on automation common with many cap table platform valuation services, your company risks losing safe harbor protection and faces serious consequences:
If you are a client of ours and in the rare case that your 409A valuation faces a challenge, we’ll be with you every step of the way and ready to defend our report in court.
Early-stage startups need their first 409A valuation before issuing stock options. After that, valuations must be updated every 12 months or sooner if a material event occurs.
For early-stage companies, material events typically include:
If any of these occur, you’ll need a new valuation before granting further options. The 12-month cycle resets from the date of the updated report.
