> We had no vesting period—the options could be cashed in immediately. Most tech companies have a four-year vesting schedule and try to use options as “golden handcuffs” to aid retention, but we never thought that made sense.
That's only possible when equity is a direct substitute for the income, similar to when an employee would buy the stock/options through their broker for the money out of their paycheck. Imagine hiring your 5th employee for 1.5% of the company and they leave the next day.
They probably have some sort of fast / monthly vesting schedule instead of some (what I think is truly bizarre but common) yearly vesting cycle.
If a person wants to leave 18 months into it let them go with 18/(412) percent instead of having them wait around another 6 months to get 50% instead of 25%.
For the 1 day employee that could work out to 1/(4365) * 1.5%. But there should be a cliff as having them jump that early can be disruptive.
That's only possible when equity is a direct substitute for the income, similar to when an employee would buy the stock/options through their broker for the money out of their paycheck. Imagine hiring your 5th employee for 1.5% of the company and they leave the next day.