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What is Quiet Quitting and Why is it Important?

While it isn’t a new phenomenon, many of us might be familiar with the behavior but not have a term connected to it, that is, until now. You may have heard the term "quiet quitting" recently as the latest workplace trend, many thanks to influencers on TikTok, but it has been around long before social media ever existed. Generally, there are multiple definitions floating around as to what quiet quitting is, and what it means for the workplace.

Upon first hearing the term, many might mistake quiet quitting as slacking off at work, but that is not entirely true. Some people define it as not taking on more work and setting boundaries with employers to avoid burnout, while others say it’s simply not...

Welcome to Phase One of a four-part Splitting Equity Series make sure to read Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already.

Phase One - Startup Equity — Avoiding Early Mistakes ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

Phase Two - How Startup Equity Works

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Equity Management

We are excited to guide you through your equity-splitting experience. Let's continue!

Before we make a single equity split decision about co-founders or any of our founding teams, please read this section carefully. Nearly every bad decision startup founders make in setting up their equity splits is contained here.

This lesson is a primer on splitting equity among two founders or more and how to have a...

Welcome to our four-part Splitting Equity Series. This is our Introductory piece and will continue to be split up into four phases:

Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

• Phase Two - How Startup Equity Works

• Phase Three - How to Split Equity

• Phase Four - Equity Management

We are excited to guide you through your equity-splitting experience. Let's dive in!

We’re going to identify and isolate each of the key issues in splitting startup equity in a young company. Then one by one we will lay out which options are available, how most startups address this problem, and what key decisions the team will need to make to split the founder equity fairly and manage a plan...

Welcome to Phase Four of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - How Startup Equity Works

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Part 1 - Equity Management

• Part 2 - Recovering Startup Equity ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

Let's do this!

When it comes to startup equity distribution, giving away a startup's equity is easy. How much equity do we get back? Well, that's a different story altogether!

An "equity clawback" is designed for early-stage startups to essentially reverse an equity grant based on a number of provisions...

We can't win every battle, so sometimes we just need to live to fight another day.

I learned this lesson early in my startup career (the 90s), at a time when everything was going "up and to the right" for absolutely everyone. During the boom times, our biggest problems are staffing up, raising capital, customer acquisition, and scale.

And then one day they go the other direction. The markets dry up, "How fast can we staff up?" is replaced with "How do we make payroll?" and suddenly we're talking survival versus strategy.

When Survival IS the Strategy

We don't talk much about "survival" as a startup strategy, partially because it's not fun to talk about, and partially because we hope never to think about it. But lo and behold, if we plan o...

Welcome to Phase Four of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - How Startup Equity Works

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Part 1 - Equity Management ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 2 - Recovering Startup Equity

Let's continue!

Splitting startup equity is only half the challenge for early-stage startups — managing startup equity is a whole different issue! How much equity we split and the founders' ownership percentage is generally determined by what we expect each founder to contribute.

But the problem is once ...

Welcome to Phase Two of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - Part 1 - How Startup Equity Works

• Part 2 - Startup Stock Options

• Part 3 - Startup Stock Vesting

• Part 4 - Startup Stock Valuation ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Equity Management

Let's continue!

Early-stage startups use a Stock Valuation to determine their fair market value. This will determine everything from how much a venture capital firm might receive for their investment to how we distribute employee stock options.

T...

Welcome to Phase Two of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - Part 1 - How Startup Equity Works

• Part 2 - Startup Stock Options

• Part 3 - Startup Stock Vesting ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 4 - Startup Stock Valuation

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Equity Management

Let's continue!

Vesting is a way to allow members to "earn" their stock over some period of time or per specific milestones. A common "4-year vesting schedule" means that a member of the company will earn 25% of their stock or stock options per y...

Welcome to Phase Two of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - Part 1 - How Startup Equity Works

• Part 2 - Startup Stock Options ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 3 -Startup Stock Vesting

• Part 4 -Startup Stock Valuation

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Equity Management

Let's continue!

Startup stock options provide the holder the option to buy a company's stock at a later date, typically during a "liquidity event" where the company is sold or goes public. Early-stage startups use a stock option agreement to provide...

Welcome to Phase Two of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - Part 1 - How Startup Equity Works ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 2 - Startup Stock Options

• Part 3 -Startup Stock Vesting

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Equity Management

Let's continue!

Startup companies have been wrestling with how to structure stock ownership forever. As private companies we have major decisions to make, from raising venture capital to awarding key employees with equity to just splitting equity among co-founders — we need a stru...