1. Empowering your
employees with a
sense of ownership
provides a great
incentive to go the
extra mile.
Partial owners of a
company have a vested
interest not only in their own
performance, but in the
long-term success of the
whole company.

2. Table of Contents
Preface
This mindset of equity goes a long way in
combating employee churn, helping you to not
only attract top talent – but also to hold onto it.
Here are five factors to consider when stock
options are on the table.!
!
Credits
Reward Performance
Educate Employees
Discuss Valuation
Provide Startup
Incentive
Align Your Mission1
2
3
4
5

3. Align Your Mission
Providing equity to all employees
helps to align everyone with the
company’s mission and helps to
encourage everyone to think
more like active owners instead of
passive employees.
Making everyone a partial owner
can boost morale and inspire
longevity and career growth
within the company.
1

4. Provide Startup Incentive
Stock options are an important
part of total compensation for
employees who choose to join a
startup.
Communicate your stock options
to potential hires, and also be sure
to convey that your company
mission is aligned around
teamwork, collaboration and
mutual success.
2

5. Discuss Valuation
In order for new and existing
employees to be able to assess
the value related to stock options,
it is important to convey key stats
related to equity.
Keeping every employee in the
loop about your company’s
financial health is a great way to
practice what you’re preaching
when it comes to fostering
collaboration.
3

6. Educate Employees
Education is important so that
employees understand all aspects
related to stock options, which
includes the tax impact related to
exercising stock options.
Bring in an equity or tax expert to
meet with your employees, so they
feel confident in knowing the nitty
gritty about how vesting works
and how to manage their stock
options.
4

7. Reward Performance
Stock options are also an
incredibly useful tool to help
reward high performers.
Establishing clear goals that are
then rewarded with more stock
options when they are achieved is
a meaningful way to reward hard
work while staying true to your
company culture.
5

8. Credits Read Full Story
David Stack is an
entrepreneur and
finance executive
based primarily in
Boston. He is the CFO
of Qstream, a board
director at
BrandYourself and the
former CFO at
Hubspot.
Entrepreneur.com