Vesting & grants
What is Vesting Schedule?
The timeline over which equity is earned - typically 4 years with a 1-year cliff and monthly vesting thereafter.
Vesting schedules tie equity ownership to continued service. The startup standard is 4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff: nothing vests for the first 12 months, then 25% vests at the 1-year mark, then 1/48th vests monthly for the remaining 36 months. This protects the company if an employee or founder leaves early. Vesting applies to both options and restricted stock; the cliff prevents short-stint departures from walking away with material equity.