Employee Equity: RSUs, Stock Options, Vesting, Dilution & Exit Scenarios
Understand your own equity like an analyst: vesting with a cliff, RSU value at grant vs vest, option intrinsic value and spread, the cash needed to exercise, dilution through funding rounds, exit payouts after preferences, two offers compared by expected value and the deadlines when you leave: 8 graded labs for a fictional employee.
The first lesson is free — no account needed.
About this course
An employee equity course that values the RSUs and stock options of one fictional employee, Maya Ortiz, in a spreadsheet, for startup and tech employees, people comparing job offers and HR staff. You count vested options on seven dates under a four-year schedule with a one-year cliff, compare each RSU tranche at vest with its grant value, value three option grants by intrinsic value and spot the underwater one, calculate the exercise cost, an illustrative tax on the spread and the cash needed, follow ownership through Series A, B and C dilution, run five exit values through a simplified preference waterfall, compare a startup option grant with a listed-company RSU grant by expected value, and find the exercise deadlines when leaving. Fictional people and companies with illustrative numbers, and tax rules vary by country. Educational only, not financial, tax or legal advice. The first lab is free.
Lessons
- Vesting Schedule: 4 Years, 1-Year Cliff & Vested Options at a DateFree
- RSUs: Number of Units, Value at Grant vs Value at Vest Pro
- Stock Options: Intrinsic Value, Underwater Grants & the Spread at Exercise Pro
- Exercising Options: Exercise Cost, Tax Withholding & Cash Needed Pro
- Ownership % & Dilution After Series A, B and C Pro
- Exit Scenarios: What Your Options Pay at Different Sale Prices Pro
- Comparing Two Offers' Equity: Expected Value with Probabilities Pro
- Leaving the Company: Post-Termination Exercise Window, Expiry & Early Exercise Pro