A typical vesting schedule might look like this: 25% of your shares vest after the first year, with the remaining 75% spread out in quarterly instalments over the next three years.
Some founders negotiate for a 90% lock‑in, meaning that while most of your shares are tied up, you can still access a portion of them if an emergency arises.
Lock‑in periods are usually time‑bound (e.g., 4 years) after which founders gain more freedom to sell or transfer shares.
The average time to exit or take a company to IPO is 7-10 years.
It will be difficult for the company to raise more money, the remaining founders might have a lot of resentment, or they might lack motivation.
I am considering extending vesting periods to 5-6 years to better align founder equity with the typical 7‑10 year exit horizon.