Here, I’ll be the first to provide a perspective from the other “other” side of this argument. I am a founder who once had a vesting schedule with a cliff (one year). I built the first version of a venture backed company as the CTO, we had backing from investors you’ve heard of.

The product went live and was even used by some people. Eventually I ended up in a place where it was clear to me I disagreed with the direction of the business and the CEO leading it. I for one am glad there was a cliff.

Because I left and when I did my co-founders continued to work on that business. As far as I know they’re still at it.

That was over six years ago. The code I wrote is likely of VERY little value in the grand scheme of things.

The value I added in thoughts, ideas, advice etc. is probably about as valuable as people my co-founders have had several dinners with over the years at this point. If I had walked away with 1/3 of the equity that would have put the other two co-founders in a horrible situation and would have been completely unfair of me to do.

The cliff did its job. You vest to protect all parties and because it’s just the right thing to do. Take it from someone who walked off the “cliff”.

I’ve started multiple companies since then. Each has had a vesting schedule and a cliff for all founders.