Uploading signed option agreements: A step-by-step guide

This guide walks you through uploading wet-signed agreements for both EMI and Unapproved Options.

Uploading Signed Option Agreements

Managing option agreements efficiently is essential for maintaining accurate records and ensuring compliance. While our platform automatically generates all necessary paperwork, you may choose to upload your own signed agreements instead.

This guide will walk you through the step-by-step process for uploading signed option agreements, ensuring all key details—such as valuation, grant dates, and recipient information—are correctly recorded.
(If you haven't already authorised an Option Pool and designed your option scheme, please complete those steps first and come back to this guide.)

📢 Looking for a fully digital experience? We can digitise your bespoke agreements (for a one-off fee) if they meet certain criteria. This ensures that all future agreements generated on the platform follow a consistent structure.

Follow the steps below to complete the process seamlessly.🚀

Contents📋
Step 1: Create draft distributions (i.e. add recipients to your scheme)
Step 2: Locate your draft distributions (i.e. list of recipients)
Step 3: Upload the signed option agreement
Step 4: Review and Finalise

🏗️Step 1: Create draft distributions (i.e. add recipients to your scheme)

Before uploading agreements, you need to create draft distributions:

1. Follow our guide on designing your Option Scheme and complete all steps.
2. Click "Save as draft and add another"—this will not send anything to recipients.
3. Add recipients to your scheme (include the vesting start date, full name, number of options etc).
   
   

🔍 Step 2: Locate your draft distributions (i.e. list of recipients)

1. Click on the name of the distribution you want to update.
   
   
   
   
2. You will be directed to the Agreement Summary page.
   
   

📂Step 3: Upload the signed option agreement

On the Agreement Summary page, locate the "Option agreement document" box on the right-hand side.

• Click "Upload new signed agreement" to open the upload page.
  
  

Information Required

To complete the upload, you will need to provide:

• A valuation that covers the option issue date.
• The date the option was granted.
• The date the recipient accepted the option (this is often the same as the grant date).
• The signed agreement file, which you will need to upload before clicking Save.
  
  

Once uploaded, you will be redirected to the Agreement Summary page, where the newly uploaded agreement will appear under the "Option agreement documents" section.

✅Step 4: Review and Finalise

Before proceeding, carefully review the details on the Agreement Summary page to ensure they match the uploaded agreement:

• Recipient’s name
• Number of shares
• Start date
• Vesting schedule

If any information needs to be updated, click Edit next to the recipient’s name.

Once all details are correct, click Save, then select Send Invite to finalise the process.

🔄 Need to Start Over?

If you have not yet sent the invite and need to restart, simply click Delete at the bottom of the page and begin the process again.

🎯 Final Steps

Once the signed agreement is uploaded and the EMI recipient accepts their invitation, you're all set! 🎉 The recipient can now access their My Equity dashboard to view their option agreement and vesting details anytime.

The agreement is securely stored on the platform, so you can continue managing your share scheme with ease.

For more guidance on managing your share schemes, check out our Help Centre or contact our amazing Customer Success team at support@vestd.com—we’re happy to assist! 🚀