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Can you witness a document on Cake?
Can you witness a document on Cake?

How to turn on witness requirements for ESOP and Raise offers

Shannon Griffin avatar
Written by Shannon Griffin
Updated over a week ago

You can send ESOP and Raise offers with the requirement for a witness to execute the document.

Turning on the witness requirement is a step completed after you have created the offer and before it is sent to the employee / investor for signing.

For ESOP offers -

  1. Click on the draft ESOP offer from the Offer List;

  2. In the top right corner, click 'More'; and

  3. From the dropdown menu, click 'Require witness'.

For Raise offers -

  1. Click on 'More' on the offer from the Offer List; and

  2. From the dropdown menu, click 'Require witness'.

In the bottom left corner, you should see the following message - 'Witness signature requirement changed for this offer. It is now required.'

To double check the requirement has been turned on, click the same 'More' button as above and it should now say 'Unrequire witness'.

You won't see an execution block for the witness in the document preview, don't worry about this! This doesn't mean it hasn't worked. When the employee / investor goes into Cake to accept the offer, one of the first steps they need to complete is add in the details (Name & Email) of their witness. Once they have done this step, the contract will be automatically updated with an execution block for the witness with their full name.

The witness does not need to login to Cake to sign the document. They will simply receive a signature request via email from DocuSign. This will be sent to the witness after the employee / investor has signed the offer.

Not sure if your document requires a witness?

The standard Cake templates have been drafted so that they do not require a witness to sign. However, if you're using your own documents and you're unsure whether they require a witness, always check with a lawyer! Our legal partners can help by checking out your document, and working out what is required.

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