Equity plan & process design services
We design equity programs and the processes that run them, then help your team put both into daily use.
Strategic equity program design & optimization
Most equity programs are not designed so much as accumulated. A grant type gets added for one hire, a spreadsheet fills a gap in the platform, an approval step outlives the person who asked for it. The result works until volume, an audit, or a transaction tests it.
We help private and public companies design programs that hold up under that pressure. Every recommendation has to be something your team can run on a Tuesday, with the headcount and systems you actually have.
Our consultants have designed and administered these programs from inside issuer teams, at vendors, and in advisory practices, at companies from pre-IPO through large multinational public filers.
Our plan & process design services
Process review and documentation
We review how your equity program operates, identify weak controls and wasted effort, and document the workflows that need to change. Then we help put the new process into daily use.
Administrator training
We train administrators on equity fundamentals, the company’s platform, and its own procedures. Training can include working sessions, reference materials, and follow-up coaching.
Industry trends and analysis
We use peer benchmarks, market trends, and regulatory updates to inform Long-Term Incentive plan decisions. Recommendations connect that data to the company’s talent goals and operating constraints.
Controls and compliance
We help establish approval workflows, ownership, compliance checks, and audit records. These controls reduce risk without adding review steps that the team cannot maintain.
Comprehensive design & consulting services
From initial plan design to ongoing optimization, we provide expert guidance across all aspects of your equity program
Equity plan design & strategy
We help you select grant types, structure vesting schedules, set grant levels, and draft plan documents that your counsel can sign off on and your administrators can actually run.
Process assessment & optimization
We document current equity administration workflows, identify weak points, and help implement changes that reduce manual work and risk.
Governance & controls
We design approval workflows, separate the duties that should not sit with one person, document the controls, and set up the monitoring that proves they ran.
Compliance program development
We help build Section 16 programs, insider trading policies, private-company 409A processes, and international compliance workflows around the company’s actual requirements.
Plan document services
We review and draft equity plan documents, grant agreements, policies, and procedures, with your counsel on the legal terms and us on whether the document can actually be administered.
Change management
When a process, system, or plan changes, we prepare communications, train the affected teams, and track whether the new way of working has taken hold.
The value of expert design & optimization
Strategic alignment
We connect plan design and grant practice back to what the company is trying to do: who it needs to hire, how long it needs them, and what it can afford to dilute.
Less manual work
We cut the duplicate entry, the reconciliations that exist because two systems disagree, and the review steps nobody reads. Your team gets the hours back.
Risk management
A missed Section 16 filing or a mispriced grant is expensive and public. We put controls, documentation, and compliance checks around the transactions most likely to produce one.
Knowledge & capability building
We train your administrators and document what we build, so the program does not depend on us being available.
Our consulting approach
1. Understand your context
We learn your business, your constraints, and the history behind the current setup before recommending anything.
2. Analyze current state
We review documents, watch the processes run, interview the people who own them, and check the data against what the process is supposed to produce.
3. Design optimal solutions
Every design trades something off: automation against control, flexibility against governance, thoroughness against the hours your team has. We make those trades explicitly and tell you what each one costs.
4. Support implementation
We stay through the change itself: project management, training, documentation, and coaching until the new process is the one people actually use.
5. Enable continuous improvement
We hand over the tools and the reasoning behind each decision, so your team can keep adjusting the program without calling us back.
Who benefits from our consulting services
Companies establishing new equity programs
Early decisions about grant types, vesting, and record-keeping are expensive to reverse later. We help you design the plan, pick the platform, and set up the processes before the first grant goes out.
Organizations with underperforming programs
If your program takes too many hours, produces surprises at audit, or no longer matches what you promised employees, we assess it and rebuild the parts that are failing.
Companies preparing for major transitions
IPOs, significant growth, M&A, and other transitions often require program redesign. We help you proactively adapt your equity program to meet new requirements and scale with your evolving business.
Teams needing knowledge & skill development
We train and coach your administrators so the program does not depend on an outside consultant staying on retainer.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about our Plan & Process Design services