Create a Vesting Plan

Step 1: Log into your account on Eqvista, select the company profile, and go to the company’s dashboard. On the dashboard, click on “Cap table” from the left-hand side panel on the dashboard. A drop-down menu will appear. Select the option “vesting and plans” from the drop-down menu. Once you do this, you will be directed to the next page as shared below.

On this page, you will see all the vesting plans available in your company. There are already many vesting plans in this example, so you can click on the button that says, “New vesting plan”. In case your company doesn’t have any vesting plan, you will see the screen option saying “There are no vesting plans created”. And under this, you will see a button that says “Create vesting plan”. Clicking on this button or the “New vesting plan” button.

Step 2: The button would take you to the next page, as below.

You will have to first select the kind of vesting plan you want to create. Once you select the plan, the rest of the fields for creating the plan would appear.

There are four options to choose from, including:

#1 Basic – This plan includes the time it would take for the shares to vest and there are no additional restrictions. Just that every year a few shares would vest based on the plan. It is the simplest plan you can find.

If you select this plan, here is what you will have to add:

Here, you will only need to give the plan a name, add the vesting period which is normally in months, a cliff period in months, and the after cliff vesting process (which is the time intervals of when the next percentage of shares are awarded to the shareholder). When you are done with adding the details, click on “Submit”.

#2 Advanced: Time Based – This plan comes under the advanced plan and you will have to add the following details when you select this.

In this plan, you will also have to add the name of the plan. But in addition to this, you get the option to add the number of years along with how the shares would be vested. Add the length, frequency, vesting schedule, and percentage. Each of the parts that you need to add has been explained below:

• Length: This is the length of the first period – You need to just add the number and the unit of the number will be added in the next column.
• Frequency: This is the unit for the number that was added in the first column. It basically defines the length of the period.
• Vesting Schedule – This is the one that directs how the shares would be given in that period. So, the shares can be given after the period is over, monthly, or even daily.
• Percentage – Here, you need to add the percentage out of the total shares that the shareholder will get as per the plan in that period.

And with this, your plan would be created. You can add as many periods as you want and each can have different rules. To add more periods, click on the plus sign (+) and another row will be added.

Note: Just 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. You will also see the total come up below.

Once all has been filled, click on “Submit”.

#3 Advanced: Milestones – This is the advanced milestone plan where the vesting plan is based on milestones reached. When you select this option, the following fields show up:

Add the milestone title and the percentage of the shares that would be vested when a milestone is done. You can add as many milestones as you want, but again, ensure that the total percentage of shares that can be vested is 100%. Once done, click on “Submit”.

#4 Advanced: Hybrid – This plan is a combination of the last two advanced plans. When you select this option, the following fields come up:

Add in the details as required. It would include both milestone and time-based requirements.

Note: In the example above, we added the percentage of the total shares that will be vested as more than 100%. So ensure that the percentage is 100% before you can click submit.

Step 3: Regardless of which plan you choose, the plan will be created and added to the dashboard. You will then be directed back to the page of the vesting plans, as below.

And that is it, your vesting plan has been created. You can now choose the vesting plan when you are about to issue shares.

Additionally, once you issue shares to someone using the plan, the second panel on this page will show the shareholder under the vesting plan and how long it has been. You can now use the vesting plan in your issuance process.

If you want to know more or understand any other process, check out the other support articles here or contact us today!