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Accepting Option Grants and Equity Awards in Fidelity Private Shares

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Introduction

This article provides an overview of how to accept and view option grants issued to you through Fidelity Private SharesSM. When a company has decided to grant you stock options or other equity awards, the grant must first be approved by the Board of Directors. You may have received a promise of an equity grant with your offer letter, but the actual grant will not be issued until it has been approved by the board.

Accepting your grant

  1. You will receive an email informing you that you have been issued an equity award with a link to accept the grant in the platform. Click on Accept Grant to get started.
  2. If this is your first award from the company and you have not yet created an account in Fidelity Private Shares, you will be prompted to create or log in with a Fidelity.com account. For more information, see this article on creating your account.
  3. Once you are logged in, you will be prompted to provide or confirm your address. When your address has been entered or verified, click Continue.
  4. The Sign Documents page will show a summary with the details of your new grant. For more information about how the options work, or what these terms mean, see our Equity 101 Guide to Startup Equity Awards article.
  5. In addition to the grant summary, your grant documents are listed. The grant agreement will display as an embedded PDF on this page, and any related documents are linked. The related documents can vary depending on your company's plan and the type of grant. Typically, included is a copy of your company's Stock Incentive Plan (SIP) and other related documents like the Form of Exercise or Early Exercise if applicable. Review and or download the documents before continuing. 
  6. When you are ready to sign and accept the grant, click the Sign Document button.
    NOTE: if this is your first time signing a document, you will be prompted to choose how you want your signature to display on documents you sign. Select the signature style you like, and then Click Confirm & Sign to apply your signature to the document. You can adjust your signature style from your profile.
  7. You will be asked to submit the signed documents. The workflow will not continue until you have both signed and submitted.
  8. If you live in a community property state, you may also have to provide your spouse's information so that they can sign a Spousal Consent. If they do not have an account, they will be invited to create an account so they can log in and sign the Spousal Consent.
  9. After you have signed the grant and finished the workflow (including the Spousal Consent, if applicable), you will see your grant reflected in the My Equity section of your workspace. More information can be found here about viewing your equity.

Frequently Asked Questions

I never got the email; can I still accept my grant?  If you have already been invited and have a login, the new grant will show in the My Tasks on your workspace. Click on the task or the workflow to start the acceptance process. If you close out of the workflow before signing and submitting, you can also find the workflow in progress in this same section.

Screenshots are for illustrative purposes only.

Fidelity Private Shares LLC provides cap table management and other administrative services to private companies and their equity compensation plans.

Fidelity Private Shares LLC

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