You're helping build Plei, and until now your equity has only lived in your offer or contractor agreement. It finally has a real home in Carta, where you can see it any time. Before your access goes live, here's how all of it works, in plain language. No finance degree required.
Here's the path that brought you here. You signed an offer or contractor agreement. In it, you were allocated a specific share count, your piece of the company. This deck is now the place where you track that grant and understand how it works.
What you hold are stock options: the right to buy Plei shares later, at a fixed price. That's real equity, a genuine stake in the company's future. You're not on the hook for anything today, and you decide if and when you ever buy.
No money out of your pocket today, and no decisions you're forced to make.
Your equity is set up as options because this protects you. With shares, you'd owe taxes the moment you received them, before there's any way to turn them into cash, and you'd be responsible for a strict 30-day IRS filing called an 83(b) election, where a missed deadline gets expensive. Options skip all of that: same upside, none of the upfront tax, cost, or paperwork risk.
This is also simply how it's done. Stock options are the standard at venture-backed startups, so you're getting the same structure used across the industry, built for teams and not just founders.
A vesting period is the time you stay with the company in order to earn your full grant. You don't get everything at once. Vesting is tied to a Vesting Commencement Date set in your agreement, and it runs over five years with a one-year cliff: nothing vests during your first year. On your one-year anniversary, the first 1/48th of your shares vests, and from there an equal portion vests every month on the same day, until you're fully vested on the fifth anniversary. Vesting only keeps going while you're in service with the company.
"100% of the Shares covered by the Equity Award shall be subject to vesting... 1/48th of the Vesting Shares shall vest on the one (1) year anniversary of the Vesting Commencement Date, and the remaining Vesting Shares shall vest in equal amounts for 48 months on the same day of each month thereafter (and if there is no corresponding day, the last day of the month), until all Vesting Shares are vested as of the fifth anniversary of the Vesting Commencement Date."
In plain language: a one-year cliff, then steady monthly vesting, fully earned at year five.
Say your Vesting Commencement Date is January 1, 2024. Nothing vests during your first year. On January 1, 2025, your one-year anniversary, the first 1/48th vests. After that an equal slice vests every month on the same day until you're fully vested on January 1, 2029, the fifth anniversary.
These figures do not represent actual factual numbers.
Once your access is live, Carta shows you a progress bar of exactly where you stand: your Vesting Commencement Date, cliff date, full-vest date, and how much you've earned so far. Your grant is also subject to Board approval, and your signed Option Agreement is the controlling document.
Your original quantity is the total number of options you were granted. That number is fixed and matches your agreement. Your vested amount is how much of that total you've earned so far, and it climbs every month.
Your vesting is tied to continued service. Whether you resign or the company ends the relationship, vesting stops on your final day of service. Options vested by that date are generally yours to exercise; options that haven't vested are forfeited, because they were never earned.
Say you were granted 1,000 options and 400 have vested by your final day. The 400 vested options are yours to exercise within the window below. The remaining 600 weren't earned, so they go back to the company.
These figures do not represent actual factual numbers.
Under the 2025 Stock Plan, how long you have to exercise your vested options after you leave depends on why you leave:
"Cause" is defined in the Plan and includes things like fraud, a crime that harms the company, leaking confidential information, or an uncured material breach of your agreements or company policies. Your signed Option Agreement controls if it sets different terms, and no window runs past your option's expiration date. Reach out to HR before your last day.
As Plei hires and raises money, the company issues new shares, so everyone's ownership percentage shifts down a little. This is called dilution. It happens to everyone, founders included, and it's usually a sign of growth.
At grant: you were offered 0.5% equity, which equals 2,000 shares, in a company valued at $10,000,000.
After a funding round: the company issues more shares to raise money, so your same 2,000 shares now represent 0.25%.
Here's the key part: your share count does not change. You still hold 2,000 shares. Your percentage drops only because new shares were created. But the company is now worth more, so your stake can still go up in value even as your percentage goes down. Focus on your share count, which always matches your agreement.
These figures do not represent actual factual numbers.
Plei's fair market value, the FMV, is what a single share is worth on a given day. It isn't a number we pick. It comes from an independent valuation called a 409A, prepared by an outside firm so that equity is priced fairly and stays clean with the IRS.
Right now Plei's FMV is $0.42 per share. This valuation gets refreshed periodically, so the FMV can move over time and affect the price on future grants.
Your exercise price, also called your strike price, is what you'd pay for one share if you decide to buy. It's set to the company's fair market value, the FMV, on the day your grant is issued.
Your price is locked at the FMV on your grant date. It doesn't change, no matter how much the company grows. Even as the FMV moves for future grants, yours stays fixed. You'll see your exact number in your personal email and in Carta.
Exercising means actually buying your vested shares at your locked exercise price. You're never required to do it, and there's no rush. Most people exercise at a liquidity event, when shares can finally turn into money, like an acquisition or an approved share sale.
Once you're fully vested, you've earned 100% of your options. They sit there, fully earned and ready, until you decide to exercise or a liquidity event gives you a reason to.
Say you're 100% vested, and 100% of your grant is 2,000 shares.
Your exercise cost is your FMV at grant, the strike price locked on your grant date. Here's the simple math:
These figures do not represent actual factual numbers.
One nuance: if you leave, you generally have 3 months to exercise your vested options (12 months for death or disability), and a termination for cause ends everything immediately, including vested options. See "If you leave or are let go" above for detail.
Both are real options. Which one you have is set by whether you're a W-2 employee or a contractor, not something you chose. ISOs can carry preferential US tax treatment for employees who meet the holding rules. NSOs are taxed as ordinary income on the gain when you exercise.
If you're an international contractor or based outside the US, these US tax categories may not apply to you the same way. Your own country's rules govern, so investigate locally and talk to an advisor where you live.
Here's when a tax event can actually happen. The short version: just holding your options never triggers anything.
Everyone's situation is different, and this page is educational, not tax advice. Please consult your own tax advisor before you exercise or sell.
Equity may become valuable. It may not. It's not guaranteed money. What it is, is a real stake in what you're helping build, structured so you can share in Plei's future success without taking on tax headaches or upfront cost. That's the whole point of the program.
This part has been a long time coming. Your equity has lived only in your offer or contractor agreement until now. It finally has a home in Carta, the platform that holds and tracks it, so you can see your grant any time.
No. You hold options, not shares. Nothing is due today, and you're never forced to buy. You decide if and when.
It's real equity. Stock options are the standard way venture-backed startups grant ownership, and the structure is built to protect you from upfront tax and risk. You get the upside without the downsides of holding shares directly.
Everything you've vested up to your last day is yours, and you'll have a limited window to exercise it. Anything not yet vested goes back to the company. See the "If you leave or are let go" section above.
At a liquidity event, like an acquisition or an approved sale of shares. Until then it's a long game. Equity may become valuable, and it may not.
There's usually no need to rush, and most people wait for a liquidity event. Exercising has tax consequences that depend on your situation, so talk to your own tax advisor before doing anything.
The equity itself works the same way, but tax treatment depends on your country. Investigate your local rules and talk to an advisor where you live.
If your grant is in Carta, it's already been approved by the Board. That approval is part of what puts it there, so seeing it in Carta is your confirmation. Until it shows up, the share count in your offer or contractor agreement is the intended grant, not a final one. If you've accepted and still don't see it, reach out to HR@plei.com.
In your personal email and in Carta once your access is live: your original quantity, vesting schedule, percent vested, exercise price, grant type, and the stock plan documents.
Equity can feel like a lot the first time. If anything here is unclear, or you just want to talk it through, let us know at HR@plei.com. This is a real milestone, and we're glad you're part of it.
Plei, Inc. — Equity Program. This page is for educational purposes only. Every figure and scenario shown is illustrative, does not represent actual numbers, and is in no way a promise or guarantee that your equity will have any value. Equity in a private company may end up worth nothing. Nothing here is tax, legal, or financial advice. Please do your own research and consult your own tax accountant and attorney as needed. Your signed Option Agreement and the Company's 2025 Stock Plan are the controlling documents and govern over anything stated here.