Create a New Option Grant
Once your stock option plan is set up, you can create grants for employees and other eligible recipients. This article covers how to configure and issue an individual option grant.
Before you start
Your stock option plan must be created first. See Create an Employee Stock Option Plan.
Create an option grant
Go to Plans → Options and click View pool on your stock option plan.
Click + Add new or existing grant.
Complete the grant details:
Option holder: select an existing contact, or add a new recipient by entering their name and email (plus optional team and level)
Grant size: enter the number of options or a percentage to allocate
Option type (US-only): select ISO (Incentive Stock Option) or NSO (Non-Qualified Stock Option) based on the grant type
Early exercise (US-only): tick to allow early exercise of options
Warning: Early Exercising of NSOs
Generally not recommended. Consider ISOs for early exercise instead.
Start date: when vesting begins
Strike price: the price the option holder pays per share when they exercise
Vesting schedule: choose Industry Standard (4-year vest, 1-year cliff) or click Custom to build your own. See Create Custom Vesting Schedules
Configure additional settings (all visible by default):
Expiration type and date
Post-termination exercise period (PTEP)
Witness signature requirement
Custom grant date – if left blank, the option grant date will be populated as the date of execution
Click Save draft to save for review, or Send grant to issue immediately.
What happens next
The recipient receives a grant letter to review and sign electronically through Cake. Once accepted, the options are granted and appear under Cap Table → Option holders.
Local Variations
Australia / New Zealand
The price field is labelled Exercise price, not Strike price.
The button is Send offer, not Send grant.
ISO/NSO option type is not available, AU grants do not use this classification.
Early exercise is not available, this is a US-only feature
The additional settings listed in step 4 are hidden by default, click Advanced mode at the bottom of the setup screen to expand them. Fields available in Advanced mode include:
Trust nomination: lets the employee hold options through a family trust (AU/NZ only). See Allow Employees to Nominate a Trust for Their Options.
If the pool has the 14-day disclosure period setting enabled, recipients cannot sign their offer until the disclosure window has elapsed. This setting is configured at the pool level in Settings.