Venture Hacks

Our previous vesting hacks have discussed getting vested for time served, acceleration upon termination, and acceleration upon a sale. This article is a collection of four vesting microhacks you can use to supersize your vesting.
1. Reclaim a terminated co-founder’s unvested shares.
A terminated co-founder’s unvested shares are typically cancelled. The resulting reverse dilution benefits the founders, [...]

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“During the whole funding process they said, ‘We’re interested in you guys because of your management team; we think you’re fantastic…’ Two weeks later they pull me into the office – before even the first board meeting – and say, ‘We want to replace you as CEO.’”
– Mark Fletcher, Founders at Work
Summary: You made a [...]

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“Because we weren’t having success finding a CEO, [our investors] insisted that we hire these managers [a temporary CEO and CFO]. That didn’t go great.”
– Tim Brady, 1st employee at Yahoo, Founders at Work
Summary: Create a new board seat for a new CEO. Don’t give him one of the common seats.
Whether you negotiate a [...]

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