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DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

blog.doordash.com

71–80 of 283 posts

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#71
post #2

Good, pro-employee move. Next, I'd like to see pre-IPO startups offer longer periods to exercise shares when you leave. 90 days being standard is way too low.

Is there any real incentive to offer more favorable terms to employees that plan to leave?

In this case they would be leaving with a smaller fraction of their stock grant and would allow the company to hire someone who would want the job sooner. Seems like a win-win.

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#72
post #34

It looks like DoorDash just put up a big banner at their front door saying if you want to stay less than a year and still get paid highly apply here. Wouldn't this move incentivize employees seeking short term employment thus diluting stocks given out to existing long term employees?

I think they do this to keep bad hires from sticking around until the cliff.

It takes a lot to fire someone legally - oftentimes you have to document ~6 months of poor performance, put them on a PIP, give them a chance to remediate, etc. Combine that with normal long ramp-up times in a tech company, and by the time you know it's not working out and can fire them, they're pretty close or past the 1 year vesting point anyway. It's much more efficient if the employee decides to leave on the their own, if they know it's a mutual bad fit.

This removes the incentive to stick around for the windfall - if you're not enjoying your workplace, go leave and find a better one, and you get paid fully for time served. It's a lot like the buyout offers at places like Zappos or Coinbase, designed to make sure that everyone is on-board with the existing company culture.

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#73

The 1 year cliff never really made sense... It effectively gave the company a discount on employees who stayed only 364 days - or to look at it another way, a 'trial period' of 1 year where the pay was substantially less.

Not only that, Door Dash might still have an effective 1 year cliff anyway.

Usually signing bonuses have a 1 year paypack period. So sure, you may get stock even if you leave before a year, but you still have to pay back the signon bonus you received (and you don't get the taxes you paid on the sign-on bonus back either)

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#74
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree with the above, and have commented on it many times before, but note the 90 day standard is because that is the maximum amount of time allowed for ISOs by the IRS. To allow for conversion after that time (e.g. 5-10 years seems to be what a lot of people are pushing for), the ISOs convert into non-qualified options. Still worth it in my opinion. Even better would be for the IRS to change the law (not s…

(Preface: IANAL) Only worth it if you aren’t early. ISOs provide preferential tax treatment, and early on are usually very very cheap, so many companies (mine included) also offer early exercise with ISOs, which is an unbeatable tax win (afaik). The issue occurs when options get expensive (aka the company is doing well) and then you have to do the math between ISOs or NSOs. The longer expiration may be better, but ce…

Wouldn't that only be an issue if a company offers NSOs instead of ISOs? What I've seen in the past is "here's some ISOs, they automatically convert to NSOs 90 days after you leave." That way you get all the benefits of an ISO (tax on sale) while you work there, then all the benefits of an NSO (doesn't disappear in a puff of smoke at day 90). Seems like strictly a win, regardless of company phase.

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#75
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's common in the industry to see RSU grants shown as say, "$50k" - but that's $50k in stock as of the grant time. Once the grant is finalized, the value of the RSU grant grows with the stock. ie, if the stock is $100, then it's the same as 500 share grant. This Blind post is saying that Instacart/Stripe says you only get $50k no matter the price of stock? How would you even structure that kind of grant? Why…

all of my friends at google say the grant is in dollars and stays in dollars at google. at the end of the quarter you get a variable number of shares based on current stock price. While this reduces upside, it also reduces downside.

Googler here. dabfiend19 is correct, around ~2019 I believe new L3 hires were switched to this new grant schedule. Prior to that, it was based on a fixed number of shares.

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#76
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I've seen is generally the conversion happens once for the whole package, when you sign. So if the stock grows during your vesting period, the value increases (goes both way obviously). I think here they are mentioning value based, which means that instead of being given X amount of shares/rsu over 4 years, you're given "the equivalent of $X" at the begining of each years. So after 1 year, of the stock doubled i…

That's typical, but I've heard of a move away from it, to a plan where you get a set dollar amount every month(?) and it's converted to employee shares at the market rate then. Sounds like DoorDash just moved to it, and someone has linked a Blind thread where apparently Stripe/Instacart have, and I heard from a friend that Lyft just moved to that as well. I can see the importance of this from the company end - with t…

If I was looking at offers I would just not accept this nonsense. Not only are you compensating employees less, you remove the feeling of shared ownership that comes with stock grants, which is a powerful motivator.

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#77
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something is off then. Are they in big cities? Do they not know where/how to apply? We’ve had a hard time hiring anyone, including entry level.

I mean, what sort of compensation are you offering? Also - I'm talking about last year, not now. But I am recently out of college and have not even passed resume screen by a few companies despite referral, credentials, etc.

We’re not a big tech company, so comp isn’t quite what it is at Amazon, FB, etc. but, it’s solid. 100k+ salary, annual grant of restricted stock units, good health and other benefits etc.

Having said that, there’s a contradiction in claiming that college grads can’t find jobs while suggesting that a company offering six figures can’t find people because of comp.

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#78
post #34

It looks like DoorDash just put up a big banner at their front door saying if you want to stay less than a year and still get paid highly apply here. Wouldn't this move incentivize employees seeking short term employment thus diluting stocks given out to existing long term employees?

Facebook has had the same policy for a while and didn't run into that problem. It's more about getting talent in the door and keeping current with market.

Re: DoorDash removing 1-year cliff for equity grants

#80
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I talk to a fair number of undergrads and I think it has been tough this past year.

Something is off then. Are they in big cities? Do they not know where/how to apply? We’ve had a hard time hiring anyone, including entry level.

What city are you in, if I may ask?
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