Cliff (Vesting)
Definition
The minimum service period a recipient must complete before any portion of their equity grant vests. A one-year cliff means that no options vest until the recipient has completed twelve months of continuous service, at which point typically twenty-five percent of the total grant vests immediately. After the cliff, the remaining portion vests according to the vesting schedule, typically monthly or quarterly.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is omitting the cliff period from grant documentation or from the cap table's vesting model, resulting in a model that overstates vested option counts for recipients who have not yet passed their cliff date.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 3, Section 3.3: The Equity Compensation Standard.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Cliff (Vesting). https://ffistandard.org/glossary/cliff-vesting/. 2026.