The pay is settled inside the letter. The equity is a pointer to paperwork that did not arrive with it.
Four pages from Aldergate Systems, Inc., dated March 4, 2026, for a Senior Program Manager role starting April 6. Nine numbered sections. Section 3 is money you can count; Section 4 is money you cannot.
Aldergate is offering $148,000 a year, a $15,000 signing bonus, and an option to buy 24,000 shares of common stock. Section 3(a) is a single sentence and nothing in it needs interpreting. Section 4 runs to five subsections, and four of them hand the actual terms to the 2024 Stock Incentive Plan or to a Stock Option Agreement, neither of which is attached.
Two things in Section 4 are commonly read as settled and are not. The share count is not a price: what a share costs to buy is set by the Board on the day it approves the grant, which has not happened. And the vesting clock does not start on the first day of work. Section 4(b) starts it on the grant date, and Section 4(a) puts the grant at the Board's next regularly scheduled meeting after the start date, without saying when the Board meets.
| Aspect | Fixed by this letter | Left to a document not enclosed |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $148,000 a year, Section 3(a) | Nothing |
| Number of shares | 24,000, Section 4(a) | Nothing |
| Price per share to buy them | Not stated | Set by the Board on the grant date, under the Plan |
| Vesting schedule | Four years with a one-year cliff, Section 4(b) | Nothing |
| Window to buy after leaving | Three months, Section 4(c) | Any Plan provision that lengthens or shortens it |
| What an acquisition does to unvested shares | Not mentioned | The Plan, which Section 4(d) makes controlling |
| Whether the shares can be sold | Not mentioned | The Plan and the Stock Option Agreement |
What this brief could not check
- The Aldergate Systems, Inc. 2024 Stock Incentive Plan is named in Section 4(d) and was not attached. It controls in any conflict with the letter, which makes the letter the weaker source for every equity term summarized above.
- The Stock Option Agreement referenced in Section 4(a) was not provided. Repurchase rights, transfer restrictions, and any early-exercise provision would be in that document.
- Exhibit A, the confidential information and invention assignment agreement that Section 6 makes a condition of employment, is referenced and not enclosed. Nothing in this brief describes it.
- This brief was written by hand as a design fixture. It is modelled on real work, but no model read a diff to produce it, and its claims should not be relied on.