I don't think the 4/1 aspect of vesting is a particularly big problem. If you are enjoying your job at 4 years, the job has probably changed substantially, and you can renegotiate for a refresher grant.
I don't see any problem with restricted stock pre series A, when equity is the biggest consideration for employees. As long as financing is notes, the common hasn't yet been priced, so you can just use a very low value.
Willingness to issue refresher grants is easy for CEO and board to change.
I don't think you need to be as open as buffer, but being open with percentage ownership and financials seems obvious.
RSUs with a performance modifier already cover most of this for larger companies. Something like that for startups probably wouldn't work since so much of the risk is company-wide vs. individual.
Most people don't know how to renegotiate, and by the time they need to do it, they've negotiated their compensation at some other place and are giving a 2-week notice.
It would be cool if people got a "career manager" who helped them with this kind of stuff on an ongoing basis (at least within a given job, if not across companies for the duration of a career).
If you trust the founders, they can probably help you up to ~50 person companies like this, but there is an inherent conflict of interest.
I don't see any problem with restricted stock pre series A, when equity is the biggest consideration for employees. As long as financing is notes, the common hasn't yet been priced, so you can just use a very low value.
Willingness to issue refresher grants is easy for CEO and board to change.
I don't think you need to be as open as buffer, but being open with percentage ownership and financials seems obvious.
RSUs with a performance modifier already cover most of this for larger companies. Something like that for startups probably wouldn't work since so much of the risk is company-wide vs. individual.