Henry Ward
Henry Ward.

Henry Ward, the CEO of online equity services startup eShares, has open-sourced an example of the company’s offer letter in an effort to help job candidates at startups. Ward’s hope is to encourage transparency in more companies and better educate employees on startup equity.

In a post on Medium over the weekend, Ward shared the 14-page offer letter which included details of what a candidate could expect in regard to salary, equity and benefits. Graphs are included to illustrate such things as how salary is set, capital structure and breakpoints, formula for calculating option payout, and an option vesting schedule.

Ward’s letter also offers six key advice points on how employees are encouraged to think about their equity. “Live your life as though your equity is worthless,” the final point states. “If it is worth something in the future, that is icing on the cake.”

eShares offer letter
(Henry Ward via Medium)

A PDF of the letter can be found here. Comments on the blog post and tweets aimed at Ward praised the CEO for his openness and “spot-on” treatment of the letter.

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