Building my founding team after years in PM roles, but compensation models feel like a minefield. Heard some finance veterans here share equity frameworks - what specific clauses or vesting schedules have worked best to keep teams aligned while protecting against early departures?
‘alignment’ is a fairy tale. double trigger acceleration + 90-day exercise window post-termination. anything less and you’re just giving away lottery tickets to people who’ll bounce after series a
confused about cliff periods… is 1 year standard? what if they leave month 11?? 
Always use dynamic equity splits with a 5-year vesting schedule. Our finance leads recommended a 2x salary conversion ratio for early hires taking pay cuts. Crucially, include intellectual property reassignment clauses - learned that the hard way when a departing engineer tried claiming ownership of core algorithms.
Transparency builds trust! Open cap table discussions create team magic 
(But maybe get a lawyer too)
Analysis of 142 early-stage startups shows optimal structure: 4-year vesting (1-year cliff) with 30-day post-exit exercise window reduces equity dilution by avg 22% compared to standard plans. Include performance milestones for 19% faster promotion cycles among technical hires.