Team ESOP Guide
You build Hyro. You own a piece of it.
Everyone who helps build Hyro gets options. Options become shares. Shares mean that when Hyro wins, you win too. This page shows how it all works, then lets you play with the numbers. 🚀
How it works, in plain words
Five minutes, no jargon. Here is the whole story.
You get granted options 🎟️
Think of an option as a claim ticket. Each option can convert into one share of Hyro. Hold options, and you hold a piece of the company's future.
Why an option rather than a share straight away? Handing you shares today could mean a tax bill now, on something you cannot sell yet. An option is the right, not the obligation, to buy a share later at a price locked in when your grant is made. Value builds first, and you choose if and when to buy in.
You earn them over 4 years 🌱
This is called vesting, and it is about as standard as startup practice gets. Vesting is not an arbitrary waiting period: you earn your options gradually by staying and helping build the business. The time and work you put into growing the pie is exactly what makes your slice yours.
Ownership is an endurance sport, so it runs over 4 years. At the 12-month mark your first chunk vests: 25% of your grant, your whole first year's worth arriving in one go. After that, a bit more becomes yours every 3 months until the lot is vested at year 4. One thing to know: leave before month 12 and nothing has vested yet.
Always on top of salary
Options are icing on top, never a swap for pay. Your salary is set and reviewed on its own, at market rates.
Your work grows the pie 📈
Company value is not magic. It is built from what we all do every day: products people love, new stockists won, customers who come back, smart spending. All of that grows revenue and profit, and that is what Hyro is valued on. The more you help grow the pie, the more your slice is worth. You are not just paid to work here, you own part of the result.
The honest bit
What your options end up being worth depends on how Hyro performs. The value can go up, down, or to zero. You also cannot turn them into cash until an exit: a sale of the company or a listing on the stock exchange. The journey from options to cash is explained below.
Tax is the one bit of homework we cannot do for you. Options sit under Australian employee share scheme (ESS) tax rules and everyone's situation is different, so please get your own independent advice before you exercise or sell.
How options turn into money
Three moves: your options vest, you exercise them into shares, and an exit turns shares into cash. Here is each step in plain words.
Exercising: options become shares
Exercising means using a vested option to buy its share. You fill in a short form and pay your exercise price: the per-share price written into your grant when it is made, set by the Board from a company valuation at that time. Once you exercise, you own real shares and you are added to Hyro's share register (the cap table), the official list of who owns what.
When you can exercise
Only vested options can be exercised, during the window set out in your grant documents. In practice most people exercise at an exit, when there is a buyer for the shares. Options that lapse, for example when someone leaves before vesting, go back into the pool for future teammates.
An exit: shares become cash
An exit is the moment ownership can turn into money. It usually happens one of two ways: another company buys Hyro (a sale), or Hyro lists on a stock exchange (an IPO) so shares can be bought and sold publicly. Until an exit there is no market for private shares.
What happens at an exit 💰
Everyone holding shares or vested options takes part. Before the deal completes, the Board either cashes out your vested options based on the per-share deal price, or arranges for you to exercise so your shares are sold alongside everyone else, as set out in the Plan Rules.
Vesting speeds up too. The Hyro ESOP Plan Rules already provide that if an exit happens, unvested options granted at least 12 months earlier vest in full immediately before completion. For options granted within the previous 12 months, the Board decides.
The exact amounts follow the deal terms and the Plan Rules. Some investors have the right to get their investment back first; after that, proceeds are shared by ownership.
Which level are you?
Five levels cover every role at Hyro. Read the right-hand column and pick the one that sounds like your job.
| Level | Years experience | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Coordinator / Entry | 0 to 2 | You execute tasks with guidance from someone more senior. |
| Specialist / Manager | 2 to 5 | You own an area day to day and work independently. |
| Senior / Team Lead | 5 to 8 | You own outcomes and lead projects or people. |
| Head of Function | 8+ | You own a whole function: its strategy, team and results. |
| Executive | 10+ | You are accountable for company-level results. |
Swipe the table sideways to read everything.
Today's grant ranges
Every range is a percentage of the whole company. Find your level and your function group, and that's your range.
| Level | Tech & ProductEngineering, data, product, design | Growth & MarketingBrand, social, performance, creative | Operations & CommercialOps, supply chain, CS, finance, admin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coordinator / Entry | 0.078 to 0.156% | 0.063 to 0.125% | 0.050 to 0.100% |
| Specialist / Manager | 0.156 to 0.313% | 0.125 to 0.250% | 0.100 to 0.200% |
| Senior / Team Lead | 0.313 to 0.625% | 0.250 to 0.500% | 0.200 to 0.400% |
| Head of Function | 0.625 to 1.563% | 0.500 to 1.250% | 0.400 to 1.000% |
| Executive | 1.563 to 4.688% | 1.250 to 3.750% | 1.000 to 3.000% |
Swipe the table sideways to see all three function groups.
Ranges reflect Hyro's size today and will step down as the team grows. Benchmarks informed by Carta, Index Ventures OptionPlan, Pave and Cake Equity data.
How your exact grant is sized
Three steps. Same for everyone.
Your range
Your level and function group give you a range from the table above. That's the starting point.
Your spot in it
Two scores decide where you land: performance in role (1 to 5) and living the Hyro values (1 to 5). Added together, they place you low, middle or top.
Board sign-off
The Board approves the final number and it goes into your grant documents. Done.
Think of it like pizza 🍕
On grant day we work out your percentage of the whole pie: every share already issued, every option in the pools (like yours) and a small number of warrants, which are similar buy-in rights held by some partners. That full ownership count is 2,106,879 today, verified 8 October 2026. Your number of options never shrinks. Those slices are yours.
As Hyro raises money to grow, new slices are added for investors, so everyone's percentage gets a little thinner, founders included. This is called dilution. The plan is to grow the value of the pie so much faster than the slicing that your smaller percentage is worth far more. The next section shows exactly how that maths works.
One more thing: your grant is one total award that vests over 4 years, not a yearly payment. New grants come with promotions, bigger scope, or exceptional impact.
A smaller share. A bigger value.
Your percentage can fall while your slice becomes worth more.
Today.
10% of A$100 is A$10. 5% of A$1,000 is A$50.
Where the options live
Hyro has two option pools totalling 315,817 remaining options. Updated 8 October 2026 from Cake and the final raise cap table. Hover or tap the charts. Chart percentages are of each pool.
Management Option pool
Hyro / General Option pool
Total available to allocate: 61,727 options, or 2.93% of Hyro. Reserved options are excluded. Company percentages use the full ownership count of 2,106,879: 1,773,661 issued shares, 315,817 options across the pools and 17,401 warrants (similar buy-in rights held by some partners). Exercised options are already shares, not remaining pool. Pool changes and grants require the relevant approvals. Individual holdings stay private.
Estimate a typical grant
Pick a role and see what the framework produces. The scores are assessed at grant time, not self-assessed, so treat this as a play tool, not an offer.
What could yours be worth?
Slide things around and watch the numbers move. All of it is play modelling, none of it is a promise.
The journey
How your grant lands over 4 years
Value examples use our most recent raise model, which implies a company value of A$30.27m (A$14.366836 per Seed Preference share). It is an illustrative benchmark, not a valuation of your options or guaranteed money. Exercise costs, investor rights, tax and grant terms can change your outcome.
2,438 options in the real world
This table follows the options number in the calculator above. A grant of 2,438 options is 0.116% of Hyro today. Here is what that slice is worth as the company grows.
| Company valuation | Value of 2,438 options (0.116%) |
|---|---|
| A$30.27m (raise-model reference) | ≈ A$35k |
| A$50m | ≈ A$57.9k |
| A$100m | ≈ A$115.7k |
| A$250m | ≈ A$289.3k |
| A$500m | ≈ A$578.6k |
| A$1b | ≈ A$1.2m |
Simple percentage maths: value = 0.116% × valuation, before future dilution. Use the calculator above to model dilution.
What happens if you leave Hyro
Nobody joins planning to leave, but you deserve to know the rules up front. The Plan Rules split leavers into two groups.
Good leaver 🤝
You leave on fair terms: redundancy, serious illness or injury, or you resign in good standing after holding your options for at least 12 months. The Board can also choose to treat anyone as a good leaver.
Bad leaver
Broadly everything else, for example being dismissed for serious misconduct, resigning inside the first 12 months, or leaving while in breach of your agreement. Bad leavers lose their options.
Unvested options
Unvested options always lapse when you leave, whatever the reason, and they go back into the pool for future teammates. The leaver rules are about what you have already vested.
A fair window for good leavers
We are putting in place a standard 90-day window for good leavers to exercise their vested options after leaving, to be written into updated plan rules and grant documents. Under the current Plan Rules the Board decides how vested options are treated when someone leaves, and that remains the rule until the update is approved.
A note for US teammates 🇺🇸
Our plan sits in Hyro Pty Ltd, an Australian company. Before any options are granted to US-based teammates, we are putting in place a US sub-plan, an independent US valuation (called a 409A) to set the exercise price, and clear US tax guidance. No US grants will be made until those are properly in place.
Words you will meet in the paperwork
This page stays plain on purpose, but your grant documents use the formal terms. Here is the translation card.
The fine print (please read it)
- Everything on this page is illustrative only. It is not financial advice, not a valuation, and not a promise. Option value is not guaranteed and may be nil.
- The Plan Rules win. If anything here conflicts with the Hyro ESOP Plan Rules or your grant documents, those documents win.
- Every grant needs Board approval and is formally documented via Cake Equity.
- Options are on top of salary, never instead of it. Salary is reviewed separately on market terms.
- Tax: grants sit under Australian employee share scheme (ESS) rules. Get your own independent financial and tax advice.
- Options cannot be turned into cash until an exit such as a sale of the company or a stock exchange listing. There is no market for selling private company shares before then.
- If you leave Hyro, unvested options lapse and return to the pool. Vested options are treated under the Plan Rules and your grant documents. The 90-day exercise window for good leavers described above is proposed and subject to Board approval.
- US teammates: options will only be granted to US-based team members once a US sub-plan, a US valuation (409A) and US tax advice are in place.
- Questions? Talk to Steve. 💬