This is how I've always handled it as well. There really is no better approach. To keep the legal stuff simple and the costs of acquiring the equity low, I ha

This is how I've always handled it as well. There really is no better approach. To keep the legal stuff simple and the costs of acquiring the equity low, I hand out the equity when the founder joins (usually you can do this at a penny a share or whatever your corp allows that early in the game) and the shares have "reverse vesting" stipulations attached.