Equity Journal
Practical guides on equity, stock options, and cap table management for Japanese startup founders.
Why Japanese Startups Struggle to Compete on Equity
Large companies offer salary stability. Startups offer equity upside. But if founders cannot explain how equity works, engineers choose salary every time.
Cap Table Hygiene Before Your Next Fundraise
Investors see your cap table before they see your product. A disorganized ownership structure raises flags during due diligence and slows down term sheet negotiations.
How to Set Vesting Schedules for Your Tokyo Startup Team
The 4-year cliff model works in Silicon Valley. It needs adjustment for Japan. How to structure vesting that retains engineers through the zeisei-tekikaku holding period.
Structuring Equity Grants for Your First Hires
The decisions you make on your first five option grants shape your cap table for the next decade. What to offer, how to size it, and what to put in the agreement.
Stock Option Taxation in Japan: What Founders Get Wrong
Non-qualified options are taxed as ordinary income at exercise. Qualified options lock in capital gains treatment at sale. The difference can be worth tens of millions of yen per employee.
Planning for Exit: Equity Considerations for a Japan IPO
Tokyo Stock Exchange listing requirements touch your cap table long before you engage an underwriter. The checklist Japanese startup founders should track from year three.
Five Cap Table Mistakes Japanese Startups Make Before Their Next Fundraise
Over-allocating to advisors, issuing shares without a board resolution, ignoring the option pool in dilution models. The errors that come back to hurt you at fundraising.
When Spreadsheets Start Failing Your Equity Program
A shared Google Sheet works fine for three shareholders. When your option pool hits fifteen holders, formula errors and version conflicts turn into compliance liabilities.
Building a Fair Equity Culture at a Japanese Tech Company
Equity only motivates people when they understand it. How to communicate your option program so engineers see the upside and feel genuine ownership in the company they are building.
How Fair Market Value is Determined for Stock Options in Japan
Zeisei-tekikaku requires your exercise price to be at or above fair market value on the grant date. How Japanese founders determine FMV without a formal appraisal at seed stage.
Getting Started with Equity at a Japanese Startup
A plain-language introduction to equity programs for founders who are hiring their first engineer. What you need, what you don't, and the first three decisions that matter.
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