Before the company can give any shares to anyone, its board has to say it's okay to grant these shares. There must be a formal “board approval.” This can be done at a board meeting and then captured in the board meeting minutes, or more commonly, through a board consent.
Stock options are only for people This issue often arises when a consultant provides services to the company and asks to have their options titled in the name of their LLC. While it's usually fine to grant stock options to an individual consultant under the option plan, grants generally can't be made to an entity.
Vesting agreements are designed when the company has decided to issue shares to a stakeholder (an employee or consultant or investor) and vesting conditions have to be applied. Vesting agreements are a must for startups. These documents also include provisions for exit.
A company's equity incentive plan is also called the employee stock option plan. It outlines the company-wide program of granting different types of equity compensation. The typical types of stock and stock options include: restricted stock.
How to Grant Options to an Employee: A Step-By-Step Guide The Board Has to Say It's Okay. The Company Creates and Signs the Option Agreement. The Employee Signs the Option Agreement. The Employee Exercises the Option. Making It Easy.
The 100K Rule1 states that employees cannot receive more than $100K worth of exercisable incentive stock options (ISOs) in a calendar year.