If you have the ESOPs vested, then you can only sell them when the company buys back the vested shares. That usually happens during a fundraise or if the company gets acquired. However, if neither of those happen and if the company shuts down, you won’t get anything. In addition to that, the company may not buy back all the vested shares, just a percentage if it.

I don't think, I'm getting any sort of liquidation any soon. Btw thanks for sharing, helps me understand better and make our ESOPS policy.

Generalist

Growth And Strategy

Little context, I worked at a startup for 2yrs and got 50% of my esops vested. It's been 6 months now after I left the startup. Now, I am looking forward to buy my options which were bested and fur...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Little context, I worked at a startup for 2yrs and got 50% of my esops vested. It's been 6 months now after I left the startup. Now, I am looking forward to buy my options which were bested and further sell it to folks interested.

How should I go about it? Please suggest me how should I go about it. All kind of suggestions are welcome 🙌

How do I sell my equity?

How do I sell my equity?- Grapevine

Truths about ESOP 101 

After working in multiple fast growth startup’s and having been part of multiple buybacks as well as being in the startup ecosystem for a decade I want to put to bear my pov about creating wealth through ESOP. 

Like any other randomised event, ESOP also follows Pareto principle which means a very small number of people within the company ever make sizable wealth that they elevate to the top 0.1% of the country. 

The Pareto also applies with companies; significantly small minority of companies in India have employee friendly policies which enables an employee to create wealth. 

Most startup’s have dark patterns within their esop policy which either locks you in for insufferable durations or forces you to pay exorbitant taxes to gain the right to exercise your esops when you are leaving the company. 

Survivorship bias plays a huge role in enabling the narrative that esop is a great wealth generating tool leading to rude awakening for an employee after they join a company. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t make wealth, it just means don’t get carried away by narratives and take preventable errors in your career. 

Always talk to multiple people in startup’s and ask relevant questions to understand esop policies better. 

Like everything else optimising only for esop for wealth creation will mostly not result in it.

Unmasking ESOP wealth!

Consultant

Hello everyone, this is Blue Panda. I recently joined Grapevine see lot of folks disappointed with current economic condition and also see lot of folks saying it will stay like this. 

Good news - I already have started seeing winter fading and we should be back to good times sooner.

Lets spread some positive energies around us. I see startups fixing their issues, VCs being more sane while deploying capital. India macro story already playing out. Govt doing better policy making etc. This has already starting to show in business returns when i analyse companies across listed corporates, SMEs and startups 
 

Though what will not change in the next bull run as well is the capitalist nature of our world wherein maximising equity return is the key goal of most leaders. I get a chance to spend time with folks who have accumulated massive wealth and none of them have done it through their regular pay cheques but equity. If you are ambitious want to create wealth make sure you get sweat equity commensurate to efforts you putting in. Thats the best way to grow! 

Few options below
- Join a startup negotiate a good ESOP deal
- Startup yourself and be the founder
- Start a side hustle. Equity trading, Insurance distribution, blog subscription/influencer, goods trading, educational content etc depending upon your past strength
- Upskill yourself earn more salary and start taking more equity position in small cap companies (consult an expert and dont do it randomly) 

You can follow me for regular dose of positivity. Thanks :)

Summer is coming!

Founder

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

Hi I am working in a pre-seed startup. The product is good and the industry has scope to grow. 
I am their first hiring, as well as the only Backend Engineer till now. I am about to complete 1 year.

Company's current valuation is 2M at 11% and I have recieved 5Lakh as Esops vested in 4 years in last year's CTC.

I want to negotiate for a direct equity handover apart from my ESOPS at Uniocorn valuation of the company with my CTO in coming months like 1% equity. I want to ask if anyone else had done such contract with their founders and negotiation tips to succeed with negotiation

Equity negotiation

Software Engineer

I have 6 years experience. My current base/fixed is 60 LPA. (I also got a 5 lakh bonus and 5 lakh of my ESOPs vested this year making my total vested about 30 lakh. So the total comp is 70). 

I'm being offered a senior engineer position in an early stage startup (as part of the founding engineer team). They haven't given an offer yet.

Being early stage, the emphasis will most likely be on ESOPs. How do I evaluate this and set my expectations? (If I were to switch to a mature company, I believe the hikes usually are between 15-20%? How does this work for early stage startups?)

Salary expectation at early stage startup

[Disclaimer: I am very new to all this so pls help me with ur valuable suggestions as I need your guidance]

I have an idea which I am thinking to discuss with my friend and I think it can be a good one. So, lets say if it clicks us both. Then how should we plan about the Equity split up. Considering we might have to share our equity in future funding rounds and maybe an employee Esop. 

Any learning material around it or ur experience will be very valuable for me to start-off.

What to consider during an Equity split up?

Software Developer

Welcome to Personal Finance's Private Community

I have left company i own around equivalent to approx 6k equity shares. Have not excecised yet. 

Any possibility to convert esops to cash

Require some honest understanding regards to esops

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

Hi everyone, I joined a startup back in May which started in May itself. I wrote the first line of code and it has been the backend work since then and have hired a few interns along the way. 

I took some pay cut to join this startup and i didn't receive any share/ESOPs as well in my offer letter. but whenever i talk to my friends who have worked or are working in these types of companies, ask me to ask for the ESOPs/equity from my founder. 

I did talk about  equity/ESOPs before accepting my offer letter but that time, they said, you will be issued ESOPs later on when we raise some funding. We will make some ESOPs plan when we raise funding. 

I know that our company has only raised friends and family round of amount near to 1cr. 

Now I need advice on.. should i bring up this conversation again with the company's founder ? 
And how much percentage of equity should I be asking..? 

 given that I am giving my 101% daily and leading the backend team.. although i have industry experience of only 3 years but have good academic achievements and has completed graduation in computer science in tier-1 college.

How to ask for ESOPs when you are a founding engineer

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Currently in talks with the CEO of a small international startup (less than 10 total members spread across 4 countries). My existing profile is an exact match for what they are looking for in a candidate (they are implementation partners of my existing company's software). 
I am pretty close to closing it but now he wishes to know my existing salary. I tried to avoid sharing it but he wants to know it before quoting anything to me. 
I wish to get a huge raise (80-100%) since i will be moving from a known brand to an unknown startup with all the skills they need and more from Day 1. 
Any tips on how I can handle this situation?

How to avoid disclosing current salary

Hi folks, 

I'm Kashish, the CEO of EquityList and Founder of Cloud Capital which I run as a solo GP.
A little bit about what we do: 

EquityList is a full-stack equity management platform by AngelList India. Companies across India, US and Singapore use EquityList to manage their cap table, stock options (ESOP/SAR), shareholders, and related compliances. Managing equity for 10k+ stakeholders, 250+ companies and ~$1B in stock options.

Cloud Capital has deployed $8M+ in 55+ startups such as Airmeet, Rupifi, Orange Health, DevRev, ZET (OneCode) and others. I've also angel invested in startups such as OSlash, Atlys, Chronicle, Even Healthcare and others.

Excited to do this AMA, and look forward to answering any of your questions about ESOPs, cap table management, investing, entrepreneurship, and more!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kashisharma

Live AMA: Hey everyone, I'm Kashish, CEO of EquityList. Ask me anything!

I am at a VC backed early stage startup. Have been offered Esops.l but have no clue on this.  Can somebody explain to me how can I make money from ESOP by answering these-

1) Do I have to buy them post vesting period? If yes, what amount do I need to pay? Also will there be text on this purchase itself?

2)) When the company buys back from me assuming my vesting was over and I could hold them on, what's the amount I will get? I am assuming it's (no of options * current share price) - (no of options * strike price issued to me). Is that correct? If yes, how is the current share price calculated for non listed company?

3) Now when the company buys these, what's the tax I have to pay? I am trying to understand if availing options and selling options are different and if both have taxes

4) What happens in IPO? Who buys from me? Where can I sell? What price do I sell at?

How exactly does an ESOP buyback work?

Management Consulting

Hi, I have an ESOPs related question. Appreciate any inputs. 

Consider a Series B startup providing an employee with 5000 shares. After 2 years, 2000 shares are vested and exercised by the employee. The stocks were never liquidated because the company didn't conduct buyback nor went IPO. 

Now, assume the company lays off that employee after 2 years,

- Can he still hold the vested and exercised 2000 shares? 
- If yes, then can he sell those stocks during future buyback even if he isn't an employee?
- Will the company provide accelerated vesting for the remaining 3000 shares during layoff? (not mentioned on offer letter)

Question on ESOPs

Analyst

Fresher, work at an edTech startup (seed). Had 3L as ESOPS, standard vesting. Resigning after one year, have two options:

a) Surrender the ESOPS and add 75k to my F&F
b) Retain ESOPS and wait for liquidity events

Startup is in EdTech and creator domain, raised seed fund(again) recently.

Very confused. What to do? Which things to consider?

Retain or surrender ESOPS(75k) when resigning

Product Engineer

I got a offer where i will get the equity. Does people really make money when company get sold considering in my case if i get 1% equity.

Also how does it work? Suppose when we start valuation of the company is 1 cr so my part will be 1L. Now in the next round suppose the valuation is 10cr then does it increase my equity to 10L or it dilute my % of equity?

Suppose if the company is sold at 100cr, do i really get 1 cr? Kindly let me know how it works and really people make money or not if it get sold.

How does equity works for founding engineer?

Engineering Manager

I am in discussion with some very early stage startup and if things work out then will be part of the founding team. They have promised to give me same salary as the current company’s salary but give ESOP. Is ESOP worth it if you are founding team member?

The founder has sold his previous company so higher chance of success it looks to me.

Is there any case where person made huge money on ESOP?

Are ESOP worth it? Did it make anyone billionaire?

Some thing good in startup ecosystummm!

https://startupstorymedia.com/insights-cardekho-group-announces-5-million-esop-liquidity-buyback-reports-strong-growth-in-fy23/

How do I sell my equity?

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