Employee Option Grants Archives - The 411 On Startups (tm)

Term Sheet — Vesting, Single and Double Trigger Acceleration

May

2012

While vesting is a simple concept, it can have profound and unexpected implications. Typically, stock and options will vest over four years – which means that you have to be around for four years to own all of your stock or options (for the rest of this post, I’ll simply refer to the equity as ...

Vesting Calculator for Restricted Stock and Stock Options

May

2012

Options and restricted stock in a startup are subject to vesting. This is done to associate the rewards of equity ownership with the time and effort put into creating value for the company. Although vesting schedules can be infinitely flexible in theory, in practice they don’t vary that much. You’ll find that the majority of ...

Ask The VC: What are typical compensation numbers?

Aug

2008

We hate compensation surveys. We hate average compensations ranges. We hate industry data. But we know you want it. Just be careful how you use it. These are our opinions and experience backed up by some industry data that we track. Every case is different. Much of the cash comp will depend on how large ...

How to prepare a good plan for granting stock options to employees in Startups.

Aug

2008

Following are Four steps in Planning and Distribution of Stocks in Startups.(A) Forecast all the rounds of venture capital you will need up to the day you go IPO. You will need several rounds of financing, typically three in three years. It can be several more. Life science requires at least twice that number of ...

Ranges of Ownership Percentage for Options

Aug

2008

The ranges in the associated table are rough ranges – not bell curves – for new hires once a company has raised its Series A. Option grants go down as the company gets closer to its Series B, starts making money, and otherwise reduces risk. The top end of these ranges are for proven elite ...

An Incentive Stock Option Strategy for Startups and High Tech

Aug

2008

Until it became common practice in the last decade to offer stock options to a relatively broad spectrum of employees, most people were content to receive stock options at all. Now, more savvy about compensation if bruised by the market downturn, employees more typically wonder whether the options they are offered are competitive with what ...

What’s a typical stock compensation for joining a series A, 6 months old startup?

Aug

2008

Ask YC: What’s a typical stock compensation for joining a series A, 6 months old startup? I have a job offer from an early stage (6 months old), series A funded startup, consisting of cash and around 0.35% equity (common stock options). The stocks can go up to 0.5% max, with less cash. Some health ...