What Is a Vesting Schedule?
In short
A vesting schedule sets when founders, employees or advisors actually earn the shares they have been granted. Shares that are not yet vested can be taken back if the person leaves.
- Category
- Fundraising
- Read time
- 1 min
- Related terms
- 4
- Reviewed
- November 3, 2026
Formula
How it is calculated
Vested shares = total grant × months worked ÷ vesting months (after the cliff)
See it in numbers
Worked example
A cofounder gets 1,000,000 shares on the standard 4-year schedule with a 1-year cliff. If they leave after 10 months, they keep nothing. At 12 months, 250,000 shares vest at once. After that, about 20,833 shares vest each month until all 1,000,000 are earned at month 48.
The investor view
Why it matters for early-stage founders
Investors expect founder shares to vest. It protects the company if a cofounder leaves early and shows investors that the team is committed for the long run.
Watch out
The common mistake
Skipping vesting for founders because "we trust each other". If a cofounder walks away with a large unvested stake, it can block your next round.
Questions
Frequently asked
Put it to work
Plan vesting in your cap table
Track founder and employee grants with our free cap table template.
Keep learning
Go deeper
Related terms
Keep exploring
- Vesting and cliffVesting means shares or options are earned over time instead of owned all at once. A cliff is the first waiting period: if someone leaves before it ends, they earn nothing. The common schedule for founders and employees is four years with a one-year cliff, then monthly vesting.
- Option poolAn option pool is a block of company shares set aside for future employees, advisors and hires. Early-stage pools are often around 10% to 15% of the company.
- Cap tableA cap table (capitalization table) is a record of who owns what in your company: founders, employees, investors and option pools, with their shares and ownership percentages.
- Due diligenceDue diligence is the checking an investor does before committing money. They verify that what you told them is true: your company records, ownership, contracts, numbers, product and team.