Advisor Share Vesting : 2 year vesting with no to 6 month cliff

You want to bring on a great advisor, you agreed on the amount of equity (see this post on what's market for Advisor Equity). But what about vesting schedule? Should there be a vesting schedule and if so what would that look like? Based on what's being said around the industry, the market norm seem to be....

2 years vesting with No to 6 months cliff

Let's look at what's being said out there.

Peter Walker from Carta published the following data that's shows that the most common vesting terms for advisors is 2 year with 6 month. <linkedIn Post>

But also from Carta via a blog in 2022. Advisory share agreements often have a two-year schedule, vesting monthly, with no cliff. <Carta>

I'd personally put more weight on Peter's publication since there is clarity on where the information come from, but I think it provides a good range what can be considered "normal".

Below are blog posts (or youtube video) about Advisor share vesting schedules. 1 -2 years vesting schedule is pretty consistent but with a bit of range around the cliff. no cliff or no mention of cliff to 3 month cliff.

Therefore, an advisor-company agreement typically has a vesting schedule of 1-2 years with either no cliff or a short one of 3 months. <capboard.io>

Advisor equity usually vests over a 1 to 2-year schedule from the grant date. <Medium post by Marshall Hargrave>

an NSO granted to an advisor may vest in 1-2 years, with either no cliff or a cliff that is only a few months long < AngelList>

common set up is granting 0.25% to 0.75% of equity to the advisor - with a monthly vesting over 2 years. <Y Combinator partner Eric Migicovsky: Youtube Video>

advisor grants is typically monthly without any cliff………grant them 12-24 months worth of options at this rate that would vest monthly over that same period. A 24 month option would normally cover between .15% and .75% of the Company’s fully diluted stock,……<Cooley>

Again, up to you to decide, but know what the market is.