Raise Millions by Hustle Fund VC Page 35 Once a founder or an employee has vested some shares, that’s technically just a right to exercise the option to buy those shares for a cheap price (in most cases). Once your shares have vested, you can exercise or buy your options – pay the cheap price to get your shares – at any time that you are still at the company. Most people do not exercise their options as long as they are still at a company, because they want to wait and see as long as possible how the company is doing to decide whether or not to spend the money. People typically exercise their options when they leave the company, because once you leave the company, you typically forfeit any options that have vested that you haven’t bought. If the company is doing well, buying their vested shares is generally a good deal for the employee (especially early employees) because the price for each share is directly related to the valuation of the company at the time the employee joined. So an employee who joined a startup early could buy their fully-vested shares at, say $.05 per share, even if the current valuation of the company at that time is much higher. Vesting prevents people who only stay with the company for a month or two from running away with tons of shares. Investors expect founders to have vesting in place for everyone. This includes advisors, whose shares typically vest over 1-2 years. You might be wondering, “What if everyone stays on until their vesting schedule is complete and exercises all their options?” Then hustlefund.vc / @hustlefundvc