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.”
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.
A better offer letter, by @henrysward of @eshares. I’d feel great joining a company providing such transparency. https://t.co/Y0naND79lb
— Peter Berg (@peter) March 13, 2016
Incredible. Fantastic leadership. Bravo! “A better offer letter” by @henrysward https://t.co/pk3D0ECwcg
— Matt Strand (@mstrand) March 12, 2016
The stock option openness trend continues. Good stuff from @eshares‘s CEO. “A better offer letter” by @henrysward https://t.co/y5git5uxnf
— Brian Kelly (@resetbrian) March 13, 2016
@henrysward Thanks so much for sharing your Offer Letter post. It’s brilliant and exactly the inspiration I needed. ?
— Kirsti Grant (@KirstiGrant) March 12, 2016
Wow. @eshares broke all of the rules of job offer disclosure – will be interesting to see who follows their lead: https://t.co/v7QOA8vV1w
— Jake Kaldenbaugh (@Jakewk) March 13, 2016
Usually offer letters suck and lack the most basic information. eShares’ game is strong ?? https://t.co/1BesH1Muov
— Jori Lallo (@jorilallo) March 12, 2016
This is incredibly supportive of startup employees. Well done! “A better offer letter” by @henrysward https://t.co/imzzI8W8eJ
— Danya Shults (@danyacg) March 13, 2016
This is radical transparency… bravo @henrysward and @eshares for defining what offer letters should look like. https://t.co/q9AMKv6SE6
— Rob Mishev (@robmishev) March 13, 2016