GB and SMITH Launches
The Enterprise Stock Option Plan

GB&SMITH was founded using nothing but personal savings, lots of hard work, and a little luck to build the business. It wasn’t easy, but the stars aligned and customers embraced their disruptive innovation. Within months, revenue started flowing in, which eliminated the need for outside funding to grow the business.

Some companies grant employees stock options in the startup stage of the business lifecycle. I decided to wait 12 years until the company had momentum and began moving from startup to scale-up. I believe that success isn’t a one-way street. Employees will face new challenges in the scale-up stage and hard work should be rewarded. Stock options ensure that everyone at GB&SMITH gets a piece of the pie.

A rising tide lifts all boats, which is why GB&SMITH grants stock options to every employee, from the developers who have been around since the very beginning to the newest talent. GB&SMITH is not a collection of individual employees but a unified team with a common goal and a shared stake in the outcome. Stock options motivate employees to innovate, which results in satisfied customers, which leads to company success. By working together, everybody wins.

Stock options should be a benefit, not a burden. But in reality, they are tricky to understand. Even with the most sophisticated spreadsheet, it’s challenging to run simulations that factor in all the data: number of grants, vesting schedules, exercise prices, share values, acquisition gains, tax consequences, and more. That’s why GB&SMITH chose Kaishen — a wealth management platform specializing in employee incentive plans — to help employees manage complexity and maximize the benefit of stock options.

GB&SMITH employees don’t work for the company, they are the company.