What is vesting and why do I need a vesting schedule?
Vesting means you earn your shares over time (the standard is 4 years with a 1-year cliff) instead of owning them all on day one. It's the single most important protection you have: if a co-founder quits after three months, they don't walk away with a third of your company. Put it in place for every founder, including yourself, before there's any conflict.
Go deeper
3 resources, 3 link-checked.
📄 Article
✓ Link checkedIndiaFreeIntermediate
A practical India-specific walkthrough of equity split, vesting, and IP clauses in a co-founder agreement, from a mainstream Indian legal services provider. It covers what a US template will miss.
The canonical dynamic-equity framework for fairly splitting ownership based on real contributions before funding, when nobody yet knows who'll do what. A strong mental model even if you convert to fixed equity later.
A detailed, clause-by-clause drafting guide with Indian legal context, including enforceability and state-wise stamp duty, that goes deeper than a generic template. Written for Indian founders specifically.
