Accelerating vesting on a sale or termination
Vesting terms that make sense
Board membership and roles
Control and decision making
Advisory board setup and compensation
Accelerating vesting on a sale or termination
You may want the vesting of your shares to accelerate if you are fired or the company is sold. Is that a good idea? Will your investors agree to this? Read More...
Vesting terms that make sense
Equity is often the primary financial motivation for taking risk in a new venture. To be a proper incentive, the reward of equity should be tied to each person’s contribution to the success of the venture. In an ideal world this would mean milestone-based vesting over several years. However, the reality is that few can predict what milestones will be most important beyond a few months in advance with any accuracy, and therefore most equity award vesting is time-based. Shares held by founders typically vest over a four- to five-year period on a monthly or quarterly basis . Most non-founder employees vest over a four- to five-year period with a one year cliff (25% vests after the first year) and monthly or quarterly vesting thereafter for the remaining three or four years. The cliff period gives the company time to determine whether the employee is working out before the person gets to keep any of his or her shares. Sometimes founders’ shares do not have a cliff. Read More...
Board membership and roles
A has the ultimate authority to direct the management of the business and affairs of the company. Legally, the board will authorize the issuance of , hire (and fire) senior executives, approve compensation arrangements, including the issuance of , and authorize the company to enter into significant agreements. The board will also be asked to provide advice and approve strategic and operating plans, adopt company budgets and oversee the company’s and financial statement functions. Most importantly though, the board’s most critical function is to help management navigate the myriad critical business decisions that will determine the ultimate success or failure of the company. Read More...
Control and decision making
The shareholders of a corporation are its owners, and they vote their shares to elect the directors. The directors sit as a board, which, typically acting through a majority, oversees the corporation’s management and sets the overall corporate strategy and direction. Directors have fiduciary duties, so they generally must act in the best interests of the corporation and its shareholders. The corporation’s directors elect officers, including a CEO, who conduct the day-to-day business operations. The board must also approve certain significant corporate matters, such as issuances and important contracts. Read More...
Advisory board setup and compensation
Advisory boards can be useful things—especially in the earliest phases of your . They are often luminaries, academics and industry experts, and having people like that who are willing to make themselves available to answer questions, provide you with insights, perspective and feedback or to merely lend some credibility to your venture can be very valuable. Calling it a “board” is a bit of a misnomer, because advisory boards rarely actually meet as a group. The amount of time they contribute is often quite limited, and they aren’t generally tasked with a specific project or deliverable like a consultant would be. Read More...
Select Additional Topics
- The right time to incorporate
- Determining the right type of entity to create
- Where to incorporate
- Defining “qualified to do business” and where to be qualified
- Who makes decisions for the company?
- How startups compensate employees
- Foreign employees and their need for a visa
- Who owns your IP
- Licensing IP from a university or hospital
- Retaining a license to your IP
- Non-competes with former employers
- Reserving shares under the company’s option plan
- Allocating equity among founders
- Vesting restrictions on shares held by the founders
- Vesting terms that make sense
- Accelerating vesting on a sale or termination
- Tax implications related to shares that vest
- Rules for foreign founders in the US on a student visa
- Who owns your IP
- Non-competes with former employers
- Take a good idea with you when you leave a company
- Retaining a license to your IP
- Founder compensation
- Founder employment agreements
- Accelerating vesting on a sale or termination
- Vesting terms that make sense
- Tax implications related to shares that vest
- Difference between consultants and employees
- How startups compensate employees
- Foreign employees and their need for a visa
- Unpaid interns
- Non-competes with former employers
- Reserving shares under the company’s option plan
- Agreements with employees
- Hiring a team before securing funding
- Vesting restrictions on shares held by the founders
- Accelerating vesting on a sale or termination
- Vesting terms that make sense
- Tax implications related to shares that vest
- Difference between options and restricted stock
- Tax differences between ISOs and NSOs
- Granting options vs. issuing restricted stock
- Advisory board setup and compensation
- Reserving shares under the company's option plan
