Vesting
The schedule over which founders and employees earn full ownership of their equity grant, typically over four years.
Vesting means equity is earned over time rather than granted all at once, protecting the company and co-founders from someone leaving early while still walking away with a full ownership stake. The standard startup schedule is four years, with shares vesting monthly or quarterly after an initial cliff.
Founders typically put their own shares on a vesting schedule too, sometimes with credit for time already worked pre-financing, both to align incentives with investors and to protect remaining co-founders if one leaves early. Vesting also underlies equity compensation for every employee equity grant, whether options or RSUs.
Investors virtually always require founder vesting as a condition of a priced round if it isn't already in place, since an unvested founder base is one of the clearest signals of misaligned long-term commitment.
Put founder vesting in place at incorporation, before any investor asks — it protects the company from a co-founder departure early on and it signals seriousness to every investor who reviews the cap table later.
What's a standard startup vesting schedule?
Four years total, with monthly or quarterly vesting after a one-year cliff, is the overwhelming US market standard for both founders and employees.
Do vested shares need to be repurchased if someone leaves?
No — vested shares belong to the holder; only unvested shares are typically forfeited or repurchased at cost when someone departs before their vesting completes.
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