Gather Existing Advisor Equity Agreements and Commitments
Collect all formal advisor agreements, informal email promises, term sheets, and verbal commitments made to early-stage advisors. Audit these arrangements to create a single, clear baseline of existing equity grants, proposed vesting schedules, and expected deliverables.
Completing this action establishes a single source of truth for all current and proposed advisor equity arrangements. It ensures the equity review is grounded in complete factual evidence, preventing surprise cap table liabilities later in the venture lifecycle.
The founder must produce a consolidated register listing every advisor, promised equity percentage, vesting terms, signed contracts, and recorded verbal commitments. Clear evidence of written agreements or flagged unwritten promises must be provided for every individual.
Five questions an expert would ask when reviewing your output
Use these to challenge assumptions, pressure-test your logic, and check the quality of this action's output in the context of the parent task and wider venture development.
- 1
What written evidence exists to substantiate every verbal equity promise made to advisors so far?
- 2
Have you accounted for informal advice from early mentors that could be construed as a binding equity commitment?
- 3
How complete is the documentation backing up the current cap table entries for non-executive contributors?
- 4
Which advisor arrangements lack clear, legally binding paperwork defining IP assignment and confidentiality?
- 5
Why have certain early advisors been promised fixed equity allocations before their tangible strategic contribution was proven?