At GitLab we strongly believe in employee ownership in our Company. We are in business to create value for our shareholders and we want our employees to benefit from that shared success.
In this document (only accessible to GitLab team-members and candidates), you can find some more details on the number of shares outstanding and the most recent valuations.
This guide is meant to help you understand the piece of GitLab that you’re going to own! Its goal is to be more straightforward than the full GitLab 2015 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2015 Equity Plan”) and your stock option agreement which you are advised to read, which both go into the full legal details. Please note, however, that while we hope that this guide is helpful to understanding the stock options and/or stock issued to you under the 2015 Equity Plan, the governing terms and conditions are contained in the 2015 Equity Plan and the related stock option agreement. You should consult an employment attorney and/or a tax advisor if you have any questions about navigating your stock options and before you make important decisions.
Three things must happen for your stock options to be meaningful:
At GitLab, we give equity grants in the form of Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) and Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSOs). The difference in these two types of grants are, generally, as follows: ISOs are issued to US employees and carry a special form of tax treatment recognized by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). NSOs are granted to contractors and non-US employees. It’s called an option because you have the option to buy GitLab stock later, subject to vesting terms, at the exercise price provided at the time of grant. Solely for the purposes of example, if you are granted stock options with an exercise price of $1 per share of common stock today, and if GitLab grows later so its common stock is worth $20 per share, you will still be able to buy the common stock upon exercise of your option for $1 per share.
The reason we give stock options instead of straight stock is that you do not need to spend any money to purchase the stock at the date of grant and can decide to purchase the stock later as your options vest. In addition, we do not provide straight stock grants since this may subject you to immediate tax liabilities. For example, if we granted you $10,000 worth of GitLab stock today, you would have to pay taxes on the value of the stock (potentially thousands of dollars) for this tax year. If we give you options for $10,000 worth of stock, you generally don’t have to pay any taxes until you exercise them (more on exercising later). Please read the Stock Option section of the Tax Team.
Standard Option Grants are broken out by level for each division. If you have any questions on what grant should be offered to a new hire, please reach out to the Compensation and Benefits team by email to compensation@gitlab.
| Engineering | G&A | Marketing | Sales | Product/Alliances | Option Grant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fellow / Senior Leader | Senior Leader | Senior Leader | Senior Leader | Senior Leader | 45,000 |
| Distinguished / Director | Director | Director | Regional Director | Director | 30,000 |
| N/A | N/A | Senior PMM | Area Sales Manager / Managers in Customer Success (SA, TAM, IE) | Senior Product Manager | 15,000 |
| Staff / Manager (of people) | Staff (Lead) / Manager (of people) | Manager, (of people) / PMM | Strategic Account Leader / Customer Success (SA, TAM, IE) | Product Manager | 7,500 |
| Senior | Senior / Partner | Senior Marketing Manager | Account Executive | Senior Product Ops | 6,000 |
| Intermediate | Intermediate / Billing Specialist | Marketing Manager / Senior XDR | SMB Customer Advocate | Product Operations | 4,500 |
| Junior | Junior / Specialist / Coordinator | Associate / XDR | Analyst/Other | Analyst/Other | 3,000 |
Note: All stock option grants are subject to approval by the Board of Directors and no grants are final until such approval has been made. The Company reserves the right in its own determination to make any adjustments to stock option grants at its sole discretion including the decision not to make a grant at all.
If you are promoted, you are eligible to receive a new stock option grant for the difference between your old level and your new level based on the grant levels currently in effect. If you currently have more options than what your old level was eligible for (for example, if you joined early in the history of the company), you will still receive the difference between the two levels as an additional grant. Contact by email Compensation@domain if that wasn't done.
Team members who have reached 3.5 years of vesting against their initial option grants are eligible to be considered for a refresh grant. The team member list is reviewed each quarter. Refresh grants are made at the current stock option grant levels and vest over 4 years with a one year cliff. Refresh grants may be adjusted to account for grants made subsequent to the initial grant. All proposed grants are subject to review and approval by the Board of Directors prior to being awarded. Once approved, team members are notified directly. CEO direct reports will be reviewed separately by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.
Vesting means that you have to remain employed by, or are otherwise a service provider to, GitLab for a certain period of time before you can fully own the stock purchased under your stock option. Instead of giving you the right to purchase and own all of the common stock under your stock option on day one, you get to own the stock under your stock option in increments over time. This process is called vesting and different companies offer vesting schedules of different lengths. At GitLab, our standard practice is to issue options with a four year vesting schedule so you would own a quarter of your stock after 12 months, half of your stock after two years, and all of it after 4 years. Vesting happens on a monthly basis (so you vest 1/48 of your options each month), but many vesting schedules include a cliff. A cliff is a period at the beginning of the vesting period where your equity does not vest monthly, but instead vests at the end of the cliff period. At most companies, including GitLab, this cliff period is generally one year. This means that if you leave your job either voluntarily or involuntarily before you’ve worked for a whole year, none of your options will be vested. At the end of that year, you’ll vest the entire year’s worth (12 months) of equity all at once. This helps keep the ownership of GitLab stock to folks who have worked at the company for a meaningful amount of time.
This section deals with dilution which happens to all companies over time. In general companies issue stock from time to time in the future. For example, if company XYZ needs to raise money from outside investors, it may need to create new stock to sell to those investors. The effect of additional stock issuances by company XYZ is that while you will own the same number of shares as you did before such issuance, there will be more total shares of outstanding and, as a result, you will own a smaller percent of the company – this is called dilution.
Dilution does not necessarily mean reduced value. When a company raises money the value of stock will stay the same because the company’s new valuation will be equal to the old value of the company + the new capital raised. For example, if company XYZ is worth $100m and it raises $25m, company XYZ is now worth $125m. If you owned 5% of $100m before, you now own 4% of $125m (20% of the company was sold, or, said differently, your 5% stake was diluted by 20%). The 5% stake was worth $5m before the fundraising, but the 4% stake is still worth $5m after.
Companies from time to time undertake stock splits. A stock split has no economic impact on the stockholder. The split simply increases the number of shares by a certain amount and reduces the price by an equal, offsetting amount. For example, if a stockholder had 1,000 shares at $10.00 per share (total value $10,000), and the Company executed a 2 for 1 stock split, the shareholder would then have 2,000 shares at $5.00 (total value still $10,000). Nothing has changed. Public companies have historically split their stock to lower the stock price so that a broader set of investors could hold shares in the company. The theory being a lower price would make it easier for an individual investor to buy shares. Private companies perform stock splits to make themselves more comparable to other private companies. Companies that undertake IPOs typically go public in accepted trading ranges and then start trading from that point. So private companies will adjust their shares to be able to trade in those ranges at IPO. For further information, read this article.
Effective February 28, 2019 the GitLab Board of Directors approved a 4:1 stock split. All common stock, preferred stock and options were treated exactly the same in the split. The stock split will be reflected in Carta by the end of April. Why 4:1? We chose that ratio so that our shares will be comparable to other companies in our peer group, so that candidates considering coming to work at GitLab can make an informed choice on an “apples to apples” basis. We also took care to not split at too high of a ratio which could result in a reverse stock split prior to IPO and that is something we would like to avoid (but can't guarantee in any scenario).
"Exercising your options" means buying the stock guaranteed by your options. You pay the exercise price that was set when the options were first granted and you get stock certificates back. To give employees an opportunity to benefit from any existing tax incentives that may be available (including under the US and the Dutch tax laws) we have made the stock immediately exercisable. This means you can exercise your right to purchase the unvested shares under your option to start your holding period. However, the Company retains a repurchase right for the unvested shares if your employment or other services ends for any reason. An early exercise of unvested stock may have important tax implications and you should consult your tax advisor before making such decision.
Also, while the company has the right to repurchase the unvested shares upon your termination of services, the company is not obligated to do so. Accordingly you could lose some or all of the investment you made. Because we are a young company there are lots of risks, so be aware and informed of the risks. Please read this quora thread about most startups failing and this story of people paying more in tax for their stock than they get back.
If you leave the company, you will generally have 90 days to exercise your option for any shares that are vested (as of the last day of service).
In addition, if not otherwise expired (through termination of your employment), your stock options expire 10 years after they were issued.
Please note that until the post IPO lockup period has expired (or we are bought) company stock is not liquid. If your employment ends for whatever reason, you have a 90 day window to exercise your vested options, or lose them. During this window you would have to pay the exercise price and in some cases the tax on the gain in value of your stock options, which could be considerable. If the company stock is not liquid this money might be hard to come by. The 90 day window is an industry standard but there are good arguments against it. You may not purchase unvested shares after your service has ended.
At GitLab the stock options are intended to commit our team members to get us to a successful IPO. We want to motivate and reward our people for reaching that goal. Therefore we will consider exercise window extensions only on a case by case basis at our discretion. An example of a situation we'll consider is a valued team member quitting because of personal circumstances. In most cases there will be no extension and you will either have to pay for shares and the taxes yourself, or lose the options, even when you are fully vested. And, of course, an IPO in 2020 is our public ambition, but neither the timing, nor whether it happens at all, is guaranteed.
Option grants are approved by the Board of Directors at regularly scheduled quarterly board meetings. After your grant has been approved by the Board you will receive a grant notice by email from Carta containing information relevant to the grant including the number of shares, exercise price, vesting period and other key terms. We use Carta to administer our stock option program.
You will receive the grant notice to your GitLab email address. Clicking through that email will enable you to set up a user account at Carta. You can find all of the terms and conditions of the stock program as well as your specific grant within the Carta system. You are safe to go ahead and click "Accept" for your grant, no payment or taxes will be incurred to you since you are not Exercising Your Options, you are simply confirming to GitLab that you accept the grant that was allocated to you.
As a helpful hint we suggest that you add a second, personal email address to your profile. This can be added by clicking on Profile and Security in the bottom left hand corner of the home screen after logging in to Carta.
There are two methods to exercise your shares:
Note for US residents: whichever method you choose, be sure to download the 83-b election form provided by Carta and file with the IRS within 30 days of exercise. Send a copy of the election form to the CFO.
You will most likely want to include the following letter when sending in the 83-b election to the IRS:
<<Date Filed>>
Department of the Treasury
<<Address provided from Carta 83-b instructions>>
To whom it may concern:
Please find enclosed two copies of the 83-b election in connection with my purchase of shares of GitLab Inc. common stock. Please return one copy stamped as received to my attention in the enclosed self addressed stamped envelope.
Yours Truly,
//signature
Generally, the exercise price for options granted under the 2015 Equity Plan will be at the fair market value of such common stock at the date of grant. In short, “fair market value” is the price that a reasonable person could be expected to pay for the common stock, but because GitLab is not “public” (listed on a large stock exchange), the Board is responsible for determining the fair market value. In order to assist the Board, the company retains outside advisors to undertake something called a “409A valuation”. In general, the lower a valuation for the shares the better for employees as there is more opportunity for gain. Additionally, a lower exercise price reduces the cash required to exercise the shares and establish a holding period which can have tax advantages in some countries. We describe those in this document but as always check with your financial or tax advisor before taking any action.
Tax law is complex and you should consult a tax attorney or other tax advisor who is familiar with startup stock options before making any decisions. Please go to the tax team page for more information on taxation of stock options.
Taxation from the US perspective is not as traightforward as you might like. You aren’t taxed when you exercise your options. Tax is due on the gain or profit you make when you sell the stock. Depending on your holding period, the tax may be treated as ordinary income or capital gain. Moreover, when you hold the options long enough you may be subject to 0% capital gains tax. To outline the five possibilities of the different scenarios that may apply:
Please note, however, that any gain upon exercise of an ISO (difference between the exercise price and fair market value at date of exercise), even if you do not sell the shares, may be counted as a "tax preference" towards the Alternative Minimum Tax limit. For instance, under scenario 1 above you have to make an adjustment in your tax return for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) that equals the so-called bargain element. Each scenario has a different tax treatment, so be careful of the tax consequences when you exercise your options. In the long term, holding onto your stock does save taxes, however be aware of the AMT that you will be confronted with. It is strongly advised that you contact a tax advisor to be aware of the US tax consequences.
In addition to the benefits of a longer holding period, the IRS does have an additional benefit for holders of Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS for short). Currently, GitLab meets the criteria for QSBS treatment, however (again), the Company is not in a position to offer tax or legal advice, so check with your own tax and financial advisors. We found this article helpful in describing the QSBS program in greater detail.
For non-employees of GitLab that have been granted stock options, their stock options are treated as NSOs. NSOs have different tax treatments depending on whether they are actively traded on an established market:
Since GitLab's stock options are not actively traded on an established market, the NSO is taxed at exercise. The gain of the exercise (fair market value minus the exercise price) has to be reported by form 1099-MISC (box 7). Withholding is typically not required, however when the service provider fails to provide a valued tax identification number in form 1099, GitLab has to ensure backup withholding (roughly 25%).
For our employees based in the Netherlands, Germany and Australia, the difference between the exercise price and the fair market value is considered taxable at the date you exercise your stock options. With respect to reporting taxes: the taxable gains are subject to employer tax withholding. The tax payable is therefore deducted from your gross payroll with respect to the exercise of your stock options.
In the United Kingdom there is a small difference in the tax treatment of exercising your stock options as opposed to the other entities; the difference between the fair market value and the exercise price is taxed at the date of exercise if there is a liquid market for the stock at time of exercise. For more information please check our memo on this.
Often companies will create multiple classes of stock, with each class having different voting rights, in order to provide protection to the company's founders, early investors, and early employees, whose long-term vision for the company may not align with that of later stage investors. At the GitLab Board of Directors meeting held on January 31, 2019, the Board approved the creation of such a dual-class structure.
| Type | Detail |
|---|---|
| Class A Common Stock | 1 vote per share |
| Class B Common Stock | 10 votes per share |
Step 1: Pre-IPO
Step 2: At IPO
Step 3: Post-IPO
The stock structure will automatically convert and become a single-class structure upon (whichever comes first):
On January 31, 2019 the Board of Directors approved the amendment to the company's bylaws regarding the transfer of shares of Common Stock. Effective as of that date, Stockholders will not be able transfer, sell, or assign any shares of Common Stock without the prior written consent of the Board. This restriction does not apply to the following permitted transfers:
Everyone is always welcome to ask our CFO any questions they have about their options, GitLab’s fundraising, or anything else related to equity at GitLab. However, everyone should also consult a lawyer before making important financial decisions, especially regarding their equity because there are complex legal and tax requirements that may apply.
Our team member Drew Blessing wrote about what he learned about stock options after starting to research them because he received them when joining us. His article is greatly appreciated, but any advice is his own, and it is not officially endorsed by GitLab Inc.
Each quarter before the board meeting, the People Operations Analyst will run a report for the CFO outlining the options pending approval. The process should be:
