Resources
Your one-stop shop for learning the latest on equity and ownership for startups
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ESOP Guide for Employees
We've created the ultimate guide to help employees understand their ESOPs. We explain the value of your offer, vocabulary used, and outline the whole process from start to finish. If you're hiring, we recommend you share this guide with your new hires. Sharing is caring!
Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP) Guide
We've created the ultimate guide for founders wanting to get started with Employee Stock Option Plans. You'll get the recipe for success and learn the best-practice standards for ESOPs globally and in your country. Class is in session.
7 Steps to Raising Capital for Australian Startups
How do you prepare for a capital raise? What documents do you need? And how long will a capital raise take? We’ve set out the main steps required and major issues to consider when preparing for a raise.
Capital Raising Toolkit for Pre-Seed to Series A
Raises can be a full time job for 3-6 months, but you can save a lot of time by doing it the right way. Streamline early stage capital raising with our Capital Raising Toolkit. Sharing is caring!
9 Best ESOP Management Tools for Startups
Finding the best ESOP management tools doesn't have to be so hard. See how the top 9 compare with our comprehensive guide.
May 25th, 2022
The Holy Grail: How to Secure Venture Capital Funding
Securing venture capital is considered the holy grail of funding for early stage and scaling startups. But what is venture capital? And who are the mysterious ‘venture capitalists’ guarding this precious fountain of abundance? And how can you get their attention?
May 20th, 2022
Direct from Heaven: Everything you need to know about Angel Investment
Getting anyone to part with their money for a pre-seed or seed stage company is no easy feat. But angel investors bring their their knowledge, networks and cash, which can be invaluable when it comes to growing your business quickly. So how can you find them?
May 12th, 2022
What's the difference between ESOP and ESOW in Singapore?
An Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) is a special type of ESOW that gives employees or advisors the right to purchase shares in the company at a predefined price within a specific time period. Generally, ESOPs are the most popular method of granting employee ownership for startup companies. So let's get into why.
May 5th, 2022
Cake Superuser Spotlight - Jamie Davison, CFO
Cake Superuser Jamie Davison works as CFO for multiple companies and uses Cake’s products for everything from capital raising, onboarding new investors and ESOP set up and administration. That's having your cake and eating it too!
May 3rd, 2022
What’s the difference between issuing stocks directly to an employee and an ESOP?
When you want to grant equity (or ownership) to an employee or contractor, the best way to do it is often through an employee share scheme (ESS) or an employee share ownership plan (ESOP). But what is the difference between an ESOP and an ESS? And why would you use an ESOP instead of an ESS?
April 29th, 2022
7 Things Investors Look For in a Startup
Before you get to the negotiating table, your job is to build an airtight case for your startup to get the investors to buy into your vision. Learn more about the items an investor looks for when making an investment decision to help you put your best foot forward.
April 28th, 2022
Understanding the value of your Options
Receiving a slice of the cake, means sharing in ownership of the company. What could be more exciting and motivating than knowing your hard work could exponentially increase your own personal wealth? It’s pretty delicious.
April 27th, 2022
Exercising Options: what you should know
In order to turn your options into stocks, you'll eventually need to 'exercise your options'. No, this doesn't mean they need to hit the gym. We've summarised the answers to the questions we hear most often for you here!
April 20th, 2022
Everything you need to know about setting up a Share Option Scheme in the UK
If you’re a startup founder, you’ve probably heard the terms Share Option Scheme more times than you’ve had to pivot your business model. If it’s left you scratching your head, Cake Equity is here to help you understand how Employee Option Schemes work, in collaboration with our expert legal partners, Sprintlaw UK.
April 13th, 2022
The Cap Table: What, why and how
A cap table is a living breathing document that changes every time you give equity to employees or contractors via an ESOP, sell shares in your company or distribute equity in any way - so it’s incredibly important to make sure it’s up to date at all times. If your cap table is in order, business decisions are made easier for you.
April 8th, 2022
How many investors should I have on my cap table?
Founders often query how large their cap table should be. How many investors is too many? We break down the complex topic of growing cap tables - read on to discover strategies to keep your cap table tidy and agile, or to clean it up if it’s already spun out of control.
April 5th, 2022
6 things you can do to keep your remote employees engaged and happy
Work from home can have its perks, but some companies are still struggling to stem the tide of employee burnout that’s directly tied to remote working conditions. Here are our top tips for keeping remote teams happy and engaged, wherever they may be.
March 30th, 2022
Do you have a claim in Australia's forgotten billions?
Hundreds of millions are estimated to be sitting in long-forgotten accounts in Australia, just waiting to be collected. How are these assets separated from their owners in the first place, and what can you do if you think you have unclaimed shares?
March 24th, 2022
A Quick Guide to the Seed / Enterprise Investment Scheme in the UK
The UK has incredible tax relief schemes but if founders don’t know about them and haven’t made their businesses eligible, guess what? Investors can lose interest, fast. The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are the two schemes you need to get your head around ASAP.
March 17th, 2022
How to reduce employee turnover and keep your best talent
People are quitting in record numbers around the world. Here's what you can do to avoid the pains of ‘The Great Resignation’ at your company and keep your talent from heading out the door.
March 15th, 2022
For Love and Money: Ziinkle’s Equity Crowdfunding Slam-Dunk
The story of Ziinkle, a next-gen dating app success story that used a crowdfunding campaign on Birchal to raise over double their minimum target, all while using Cake to manage their cap raise.
March 3rd, 2022
State of Australian Startup Funding 2021 Report - Our Contribution
We're thrilled to have contributed to the inaugural State of Australian Startup Funding report produced by our partners Folklore and Cut Through Venture. The first of its kind, this comprehensive report looks into the key trends and issues shaping Australia's startup funding landscape.
March 1st, 2022
Demystifying 409A Valuations: What are they and do you need one?
Mystified by 409a Valuations? Find out what they are, if you’re going to need one to offer equity and how to get one. Easy!
February 23rd, 2022
What is Vesting and how does it work?
Mystified by Vesting? Let us simplify: Vesting refers to the process by which the Option holder earns full rights to their Options, to allow them to be converted to stocks.
February 14th, 2022
Three ways to build an effective and engaged team
So you’ve bootstrapped your way to some investment and need to hire a team to build a juggernaut. Startups face an array of challenges when it comes to recruiting - limited funds, saturated job markets, you name it - but we've got then secret sauce to help you attract and retain top talent. Read on.
February 10th, 2022
ESOP Terms Cheat Sheet
So what does it all mean? We've created a glossary of key employee ownership and equity terms so you can walk the walk and talk the talk.
February 7th, 2022
Quiet January? Here are 3 (equity) things that will save you headaches later on
Studies show that companies and businesses of many kinds often have a slow start to business during January. And then in February, it’s pretty much go time. So we’ve got till February, you say? Hold up now. This doesn’t mean it’s time to kick back, and it also doesn’t mean you should quadruple your ad spend to try and make up for standard fluctuations.
January 3rd, 2022
Early Bird Gets the Worm – 5 Reasons to Set Up Your ESOP Now
If you have talented people on your team, now is an important time to make sure they will stick around. While it is true that there may be a lot of applicants for jobs in a recession, it doesn’t mean that it will be easy to replace talent.
December 29th, 2021
The SAFE - Is it time for change?
We're proposing a new SAFE inspired by the YC template, but shaped for fundraising in the Australian context with upgrades from what we’ve learnt. We plan to remove these issues and add some improvement to create a new Australian SAFE that will benefit both founders and investors.
November 23rd, 2021
What’s a Dual Company Structure, and do I need one?
If you are looking to embark on a new business venture, one of the first decisions you will need to make is how to structure your company. This is the first of many strategic decisions you will need to make.
November 2nd, 2020
Employee Stock Option Plans – What happens when an employee leaves?
Employee stock option plans (ESOPs) can be one of the best ways to incentivise and reward your team.
October 14th, 2020
Shareholders Agreements – The important stuff
The Shareholders Agreement is the document that sets out the ongoing relationship between the Company and its Shareholders. Generally, a Shareholders Agreement will sit alongside the company Constitution, and will often prevail where there are any inconsistency.
September 30th, 2020
The Capital Raise Checklist – Are you ready for a raise?
How do you prepare for a capital raise? What documents do you need? And how long will a capital raise take?
August 13th, 2020
Are your investors in the loop? How to communicate with shareholders effectively
When you hear the term “investor update”, what comes to mind? Numbers and dollar figures? Financial models and forecasts? Standard comments on the state of the economy? While it’s important for companies to share this information with its shareholders (and just as important that the shareholders read it), it doesn’t mean it will always be a great experience.
August 4th, 2020
No time for all that Capital Raise riff-raff? How about a Convertible Note?
In short, a Convertible Note is a way to raise through a mixture of debt (a loan) and equity (giving away shares).
April 23rd, 2020
How Cake does WFH (Working From Home)
Here at Cake, we’ve been adjusting to the new norm of full time work-from-home (WFH) life.
April 15th, 2020
What is an Employee Stock Option Plan, and why bother?
An Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) is a method of granting equity in a business to an employee over a period of time. It's really as simple as it sounds – the employee receives options (or rights) to be granted real shares in the business, as long as they comply with the rules of the ESOP (Plan Rules).
March 16th, 2020
Bootstrapping vs Capital Raise – What suits your company best?
So you’ve started a business, and it’s starting to gain some traction. Customers are raving, client lists are building and your product is, well, actually working pretty well! These are all good things, and things that you should be very proud of. However, from here, the next step can be a crucial decision for the future of your business.
March 16th, 2020