This is a good interpretation of the event as I understand it. Culturally, it would be a good move to grant all employees before x date a token number of units

This is a good interpretation of the event as I understand it. Culturally, it would be a good move to grant all employees before x date a token number of units so they felt validated. $1k worth of units to a few dozen employees is a rounding errors worth of dilution but would pay many intangible dividends to the culture. I do think, ultimately, the bulk of incentive equity should go to those most likely to make significant contributions.