Founding engineer of nearly 5 years for a startup that is series C level.
Management didn’t understand why some engineers were more expensive than others, especially if work can be outsourced.
The founding engineer had 2% company stock in their offer letter but were given 180k shares vested.
Why would the offer letter say it’s 2% of company shares, but it ended up being ISOs that were granted?
Also how does one find out if the number of shares is equivalent to what 2% would represent in the first fundraising round? Ie how can this be confirmed if employee is laid off
Talk to a lawyer experienced with this. You will need to ask for a fully diluted cap-table to determine if it was 2% at the time it was granted. It’s likely that what’s in the offer letter and what was granted may not entirely line-up, the numbers may be large enough that it’s worth checking. Agree that you shouldn’t sign a letter without having someone review and negotiate on your behalf. Typically, a separation agreement prevents you from suing, you want to make sure things are 100% Ok before signing.