"This definitely happened at Groupon - and by the time it was happening, it was too late to fix." When is it "too late" to set this up? Does it have to be set

"This definitely happened at Groupon - and by the time it was happening, it was too late to fix." When is it "too late" to set this up? Does it have to be set up around the time initial shares are allocated (a/k/a company incorporation)?