Create a Time-Based Vesting Plan

Eqvista is one of the easiest platforms to use for creating an advanced and complex cap table. This means that you can create a time-based vesting plan while you are about to issue shares to a shareholder in your company. 

Not sure how to go about it? Below are the steps that will help you out.

Step 1: Start by logging into your Eqvista account and choosing the company account you want to issue shares to after creating the time-based vesting plan. 

As soon as you get to the dashboard, click on “Cap table” from the left-hand side of the panel, and choose “Vesting and plans”.

Step 2: Once you do this, you will be directed to the next page where you can see all the vesting plans that have been created. In case your company doesn’t have any vesting plan, you will see the message saying “There are no vesting plans created” and an option “Create Vesting Plan” below it.

Note: You can create your vesting plan or choose from six default plans. To know more about vesting plans, check out the support article here!

There are already many vesting plans in this example, so you can click on the button that says, “New Vesting Plan”.

Step 3: Here, you will first have to select the vesting type. For this, click on the field beside the option, and in the drop-down list, select “Advanced: Time Based”. 

Note: The time-based vesting plan means that the person would be able to earn the options or shares over time, as per the plan.

Step 4: As soon as you select this, a drop-down window will appear where you can then fill in the details for the plan. 

You will first have to add the name of the plan, which in this case is set as “Adv-Time Based”. After that, you will have to fill in the details for each period. For each period, add in the length of the period, the frequency, the vesting schedule, and the percentage, according to your requirements. To add the next period details, click on the “+” sign on the left side below it. You can also remove a period that you added by mistake by clicking on the “-” sign. 

Just like this, add in the number of periods and the percentage of shares that would be vested once the period has been fulfilled. The percentage here is the percentage of the shares that will be vested once the milestone has been fulfilled. If the total percentage for the complete plan is 100%, you will see a message that says “Total percent: 100%” at the bottom of the page.   

Note: Ensure that the total of all the percentages reaches 100% as it cannot be more than that, as it defines the number of shares that will be given. 

This means that you will have to adjust the percentage here to make it equal to 100%. Once you have reached 100% for the plan, you will also notice that the “Submit” button can now be clicked. 

Click on “Submit” once your plan is in place.

Step 5: You will then be redirected to the page where you can see all your vesting plans and the plan you just created.

You can check the details of the plan you just created by clicking on “View Plan”.

Step 6: Now, you can use this plan to issue shares, options, and warrants to your employees or shareholders by clicking “Yes” if you need a vesting schedule and selecting this plan.

Note: You can add a vesting schedule while issuing shares, options, and warrants. Check out the respective support articles to learn about this.

Note: If you have issued equities, you need to choose Restrictions – No restrictions, Restricted Stock Units, Restricted Stock Awards, and Phantom Stock. In case of options, you can enable the Early Exercise option. Check out the respective support articles to learn about this. 

Step 7: When you click “View Plan” on the Vesting and plans page under Cap Table, you will see all the grants that are vested under the plan based on the type of security – Equity Grants, Warrant Grants and Option Grants. Then, click on “Equity Grants” to see the details of the grant vested under this plan.

Step 8: To see the vesting schedule of the plan, click on the grant name “SA-003” and you will be redirected to the grant details page with the vesting schedule.

Just like this, you can easily create a time-based vesting plan. To know how to use Eqvista, check out the various support articles here!