How startup stock options work, from the job offer to the day they pay
Vesting and the cliff: how startup stock options become yours over time
Your job offer gives you stock options, but not all at once. A line in the offer says 'vesting, 4 years, 1-year cliff'. Leave too early, and you may walk away with nothing.
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1
Miva doesn't hand you all 50,000 options on day one. They become yours over four years, as long as you stay. This is vesting, and an option that has become yours is vested.
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During the first year, nothing vests at all. Then, the day you have worked there a full year, a quarter arrives at once: 12,500 options. That first jump is the cliff.
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