4 ms·
4 year vesting with 1 year cliff for all employees (including co-founders) is pretty standard. As is acceleration upon exit.
by aditya 17y ago
4 year vesting with 1 year cliff for all employees (including co-founders) is pretty standard. As is acceleration upon exit.
- matt1 17y agoThanks -- I've read that, but it doesn't seem fair to him to make him wait a year to start getting equity when I've only been working on it for four months. See what I mean?
- aditya 17y agoNot really. You're going to wait a year too, ideally ALL co-founders should vest at the same time. Usually, the 1 year cliff is post-incorporation. Although, if he's okay with it - you could probably get away with vesting in 8 months...
- mbrubeck 17y agoWhat's the ownership situation before either co-founder's shares vest?
- aditya 17y agoFounder's receive equity, not options. So, once you sign the papers, you get x% of the company every y months. I'm not quite sure I understand your question, but I guess what you're saying is what happens if one of the co-founders leaves before their equity vests? Then the company (or another shareholder) buys it back from them and it can go into the option pool for employees.
- mbrubeck 17y agoWhat happens if - for example - the company is acquired before either founder's equity vests? Who gets the payout? Someone owns the company at all times, which means at least one founder (possibly both) does not have a cliff in any practical sense. (Since the original poster said he is not incorporated yet, I am assuming he doesn't have any outside investors and is the sole owner, i.e. he now has 100% equity.)
- aditya 17y agoAh, right. That's what acceleration is for. It all depends on how the acceleration clause is written into the agreement, but for founders, they usually have a 100% vesting upon exit clause - while the acquirer may require them to stay on (as with Pownce/SixApart) for a period of time post-acquisition.