Vesting

Vesting is the schedule by which founders or employees earn their equity over time rather than owning it all on day one. The standard shape is four years with a one-year cliff: you earn nothing until you've stayed twelve months, then a quarter vests at once, and the rest trickles in monthly. Vesting exists to protect the company and the committed team from someone who leaves early walking off with a large stake they didn't earn. For a lean founder, vesting applies to you too, and that's a feature, not an insult. Co-founder vesting is the cleanest insurance against the most common startup catastrophe: a partner quits in month three and keeps half the company, leaving the one who stays building value for an absent shareholder. Agree vesting between co-founders before the company gains real value, while it's a fair, abstract conversation rather than a fight over something worth something.