- Source link: https://cdixon.org/2009/04/21/founder-vesting
- TL;DR: All startup employees should vest over 4 years, and founders should have acceleration on change of control.
- How helpful?: 4/5 ****
- Topic Tags: vesting, term sheet
- Relevant questions addressed:
- What kind of employee vesting clauses should be in the term sheet?
- Summary bullet points
- All startup employees should vest over 4 years, with a 1 year cliff.
- Not only is it unfair for an early, non-participative partner to hang on to a ton of equity, but it also means there is less equity to give out to future employees
- Founders should have acceleration on change of control
- Full acceleration on double trigger (company is acquired and you are fired)
- Partial acceleration on single trigger (company acquired and you remain)
- Gives acquirer assurance that key people will be around for specified amount of time, but doesn’t lock employees in for years
- Follow up links