Equity for your first ten hires
An offer people can explain to their family is an offer that works.
By Nadia Kessler, 6 Nov 2025. 6 minute read. Employment and equity. Fictional author and date.
Early hires often take a lower salary for a share of the upside. The share only motivates if they can explain it.
Start with the : a part of the company set aside for people who have not joined yet. It is agreed with investors and can be larger than founders expect.
“An offer people can explain to their family is an offer that works.”
Then the rules for earning it. means earning equity over time. A is an initial period, often one year, before anything is earned. After that, equity is usually earned monthly.
When you make an offer, show the number of options, what they are worth in a simple example (labelled as an example), when they vest and what happens if the person leaves. One page, no jargon left unexplained.
What this does not cover. This article does not cover personal tax or any one country’s rules. It is not advice.
Terms used in this article
- Option pool. Shares set aside to give to employees later, as options to buy shares at a fixed price.
- Vesting. Earning equity gradually over time instead of owning it all on day one.
- Cliff. An initial period during which nothing vests. If the person leaves before it ends, they keep nothing. After it ends, the first portion vests at once.