Create Custom Vesting Schedules

Need something different from the standard 12-month cliff with quarterly vesting? Cake lets you build custom vesting schedules tailored to your team's specific needs.

Creating Your Custom Schedule

1. Navigate to Incentive plans and select your relevant plan (Options, Share Plans, RSAs, or RSUs)

2. Click View pool or View plan, then select + Add new or existing grant

3. Complete the basic grant sections: Fill in 'Create grants for' and 'Equity for each Optionholder'

4. Switch to Custom vesting: The system defaults to 'Industry standard' vesting (12-month cliff, quarterly vesting for 3 years). Click Custom to build your own schedule

5. Set your Vest start date: This is when your cliff or first vesting event begins. For example, if you want a 12-month cliff ending on 01 Oct 2025, enter 01 Oct 2024 as the vest start date

6. Build your vesting events: Add your desired combination of:

   • One cliff period (if needed)

   • Multiple time-based vesting periods

   • Milestone-based events

   Note: If you include a cliff, it always becomes the first vesting event

7. Save as template (optional): Planning to reuse this schedule? Click the save icon and create a memorable template name. You can select Use template for future grants

8. Complete and finalize: Fill in remaining fields, then choose Save draft or Send grant

Key Things to Remember

Flexibility: You can add as many time-based and milestone vesting events as needed, but only one cliff period per schedule.

Templates save time: Custom schedules you'll use again can be saved as templates for quick future setup.

Start date logic: Your vest start date determines when all vesting events begin counting from, not when grants are issued.

Still Need Help?

If you need further assistance, reach out to our support team by raising a new support request or through the chat in the bottom right corner.