Enable Early Exercise for Option Grants
Early exercise lets option holders purchase shares before their options have fully vested. This is most commonly used for ISO grants at early-stage US companies, where exercising before significant value gains can reduce future tax liability.
US only. Early exercise is available for US accounts only.
When a holder exercises early, unvested options convert to shares immediately. Those shares continue vesting on the original schedule. Cake automatically sends a 30-day 83(b) election reminder with a downloadable form.
Enable early exercise at the plan level
Enabling at the plan level means all future grants from this plan will allow early exercise by default.
Go to Plans → Options and click View pool.
Click Settings in the top right.
Check Allow early exercise.
Click Save changes.
Enable early exercise for an individual grant
To enable early exercise on a single grant without affecting the rest of the plan:
Go to Plans → Options → View pool and click + Add new or existing grant.
Complete the standard grant details.
Check Allow early exercise under the option type settings.
Continue with the rest of the setup and send or issue the grant.
What happens next
When a holder exercises early, their unvested options convert to shares immediately. Those shares remain subject to the original vesting schedule. Cake tracks share vesting and sends an automatic 83(b) election reminder within 30 days to ensure filing deadlines are not missed.