Vesting

The process in which you “earn” your stock over time. The purpose of vesting is to grant stock to founders, team over a fixed period of time so they have an incentive to stick around. A typical vesting period for an employee or founder is 3 - 4 years, which means they would earn 25% of their stock each year over a 4 year period. If they leave early, the unvested portion returns back to the company.