If you are an employee or executive at a small company and you have received option grants, you may want to think about having a “Double Trigger” for accelerated vesting of your options on a change of control. The reason it is called a “Double Trigger” is because there are two things that must occur before the accelerated vesting occurs. First there must be a Change of Control. Second, there must be something else that occurs to “Trigger” the acceleration. A few things that could be are (i) termination without cause; (ii) reduction in responsibilities; (iii) reduction in title; or (iv) requiring a physical move of greater than 50 miles.
When the “Trigger” occurs, usually a portion of your remaining unvested options immediately vest. Keep in mind that it would still be up to you to exercise the options or not.
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