To learn more about how stock options work, read our explainer here.
Issuing option grants electronically allows you to grant options to employees entirely on Pulley instead of having them sign documents offline.
Overall process
1. Select "Options" as the legal agreement
To start issuing new option grants: click + New in the left navigation bar → New Contract → select Options
2. Do a one-time setup
If you're issuing options for the first time in Pulley, you'll need to do a one-time setup:
Set an Options Signatory:
Assign who from the company will e-sign all issued options.
You can invite and set yourself as the signatory.
Upload an Options Template:
⭐️ The template method removes the need to use tools like DocuSign or HelloSign. How to format a document into a Pulley template
3. Enter option grant's details
You can now start setting up options to issue. If you're a Pulley pro and need to issue multiple of the same options agreement, we recommend the "spreadsheet" method.
4. Review your drafted options
Double-check and preview the PDFs that your grants' stakeholders will receive and e-sign.
Note: If you navigate from the page, your drafts will automatically save in the "Drafts" section in your side navigation bar under "Cap Table". You will see both an icon and alert until your drafts have been published.
5. Get or upload a board approval
Unanimous written consent from your company's board of directors is required for an option grant to be legally binding. Typically, companies send their board a batch of equity grants to approve once per quarter.
For early-stage startups: it is ok for the company to have only one board member, and it may be just you, a founder.
A) Get a new board approval via Pulley
If you do not have a signed board consent for the drafted option grants yet, you can get one done under Board Approvals.
B) Upload a completed board approval
If you already have a signed board consent done outside of the Pulley platform:
Go to the option's details page
Scroll down to "Attachments" and upload the board consent:
6. Collect e-signatures 🖊
After you click Collect Signatures:
If you're the company's Options Signatory, then you'll receive both an email and a task within Pulley to e-sign the agreement.
Wait for the option grants' stakeholders to e-sign, too. You can resend the emails as needed.