Map deadlines and professional questions
See this course’s project requirements
An equity-offer file with grant terms, vesting, exercise-cost scenarios, dilution, deadline questions and a cash-based offer comparison.
Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.
What to include
- An offer term sheet separating salary and contingent equity.
- A vesting calendar and departure scenario. An exercise-cost worksheet with three hypothetical price scenarios.
- A simple dilution calculation and denominator questions.
- A departure deadline map and tax-adviser question list.
- A complete equity-offer comparison with a conditional recommendation.
Review and revise
Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.
- Calculations reconcile to the supplied records, with units and dates labeled.
- Assumptions and missing information are visible, including the changed scenario.
- The recommendation follows the evidence and explains an important limitation.
- The six lesson outputs form a usable handoff that another learner can check.
Want more background?
The idea in everyday life
Use Cedar’s terms. The worker leaves after month 24 with 600 vested options. For this exercise Day 0 is departure; the post-departure deadline is Day 90, earlier than the grant’s 10-year expiration. The grant’s statutory/nonstatutory tax type is not supplied.
A grant calendar needs departure and expiration terms as well as vesting. Tax treatment depends on the instrument and facts.
Map deadlines and professional questions — worked practice
A grant calendar needs departure and expiration terms as well as vesting. Tax treatment depends on the instrument and facts.
Use Cedar’s terms. The worker leaves after month 24 with 600 vested options. For this exercise Day 0 is departure; the post-departure deadline is Day 90, earlier than the grant’s 10-year expiration. The grant’s statutory/nonstatutory tax type is not supplied.
1. Record deadlines
Write Day 0 departure and Day 90 exercise deadline.
You should see: The earlier relevant deadline is Day 90.
Do not substitute the longer grant term.
2. Separate unvested
Record 600 unvested rights forfeited under the case terms.
You should see: Only 600 rights remain in the departure scenario.
A headline grant count is not the available count.
3. Ask tax questions
List grant type, possible exercise tax, sale reporting and records needed.
You should see: The packet flags missing facts rather than calculating a tax bill.
IRS treatment depends on the type and timing.
4. Set review lead time
Use a fictional 20-day preparation buffer before Day 90.
You should see: Request clarification by Day 70.
A buffer leaves time for advice without requiring action.
What to finish
A departure deadline map and tax-adviser question list.
Watch for this
Assuming all options share the same tax treatment or deadline.
How can I tell I understand it?
Explain your calculation or classification and reproduce the changed case without copying the worked result.
Quick knowledge check
Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.
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Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.
Go to the knowledge checkOptional course overview video · same video as Lesson 1
What are stock options, and how do they work?
From Carta. Watch here or open it on YouTube .
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Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12
Inspected statutory/nonstatutory distinctions and tax events; no individualized tax computation is taught.
Access: Public page inspected without a sign-in; linked services may have separate requirements.
Reuse: Link to the original. Free reading does not imply permission to reproduce the page; lessons and fixtures here are original.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12
Inspected compensatory securities exemption and resale restrictions. Fictional terms control all exercises.
Access: Public page inspected without a sign-in; linked services may have separate requirements.
Reuse: Link to the original. Free reading does not imply permission to reproduce the page; lessons and fixtures here are original.
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