How to Track Double Trigger Acceleration

How to track double trigger acceleration is a two-trigger ledger on a founder or employee option or RSU grant, not a primer on what acceleration means and not a thought piece on live accelerators. For each person and grant, copy the change-in-control (CIC) definition, copy the qualifying-termination definition, log the post-CIC window in days, log the percent of unvested equity that accelerates, and mark whether a CIC date or a termination date has already fired. Raziel's option-pool refresh tracking page is the pool-size book. This page is the grant overlay: CIC plus qualifying termination, the window, the percent, and whether acceleration applied.

This is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Raziel does not provide it. Copy the signed grant, award agreement, or employment addendum. Do not invent a default window or a default percent.

What this two-trigger ledger is (and is not)

Cooley GO (Pulling the Trigger(s): What are Single-Trigger and Double-Trigger Acceleration and How Do They Work?): double-trigger acceleration is based on two distinct events. Each event is a trigger. If both occur, that is a double trigger. Cooley GO's typical pair is a sale of the company and an involuntary termination, usually within a stated post-closing window, and in some cases with a short pre-closing window. Morrison Foerster's Ask a MoFo series (Equity Fundamentals: Single- Vs. Double-trigger Acceleration Explained): acceleration is a provision in a stock option or restricted stock agreement that speeds vesting on pre-defined events. MoFo's framing of double-trigger is (1) a sale or change of control, then (2) termination without cause or resignation for good reason within a set period surrounding that sale. Carta (The Carta Team, Vesting: A guide to schedules, cliffs, and acceleration, published July 29, 2026): single-trigger accelerates after one event (almost always an acquisition). Double-trigger requires an acquisition and termination without cause. Carta's acquisition explainer restates double-trigger as change of control plus termination from the new company.

Single-trigger and double-trigger are both named structures in those explainers. This ledger tracks the double-trigger path on the signed paper. It does not declare which structure is more common. The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Model Legal Documents page lists financing forms. Employee acceleration language typically sits in the equity plan, grant notice, or award agreement, not in those financing forms. Copy the grant.

Eight columns on one double-trigger row

Open one row per person per grant. A second grant to the same person is a second row. Copy each field from the PDF.

• Person and grant. Holder name, grant date, grant ID or certificate number, and instrument (option, RSA, or RSU).

• CIC definition copied. Paste the change-of-control, sale, or merger definition from the award or plan. Do not paste a blog paraphrase.

• Qualifying termination copied. Paste without-cause and, if present, good-reason language from the paper. Cooley GO lists examples such as a cut in pay, mandated relocation, or a significant downgrade of duties. MoFo lists examples such as a significant reduction in pay or responsibilities, or being asked to move across the country. Those are explainer examples, not this grant's definition.

• Post-CIC window (days). Convert the paper's months or days into a day count on the row. Cooley GO describes a usual post-closing window in the nine-to-eighteen-month range and, in some cases, a pre-closing window of three months or shorter. MoFo's worked example uses three months after closing. Those figures are model fill-ins from the explainers. Paste this grant's number.

• Percent of unvested that accelerates. Paste 100%, a fraction, or a tiered schedule exactly as written. MoFo and Cooley GO both allow all or a portion. Do not invent 100%.

• CIC date if any. Closing date of the sale or merger that meets the copied CIC definition, or blank if none has closed.

• Termination date if any. Date of without-cause termination or good-reason resignation that meets the copied definition, or blank if none.

• Acceleration applied (yes / no). Yes only when both triggers on this row have fired inside the window and the award still exists to accelerate. Cooley GO and MoFo both note that double-trigger is meaningful only if the acquiror assumes or continues the award. If the unvested award terminates at closing with nothing left to accelerate, mark no and attach the deal note.

Copy the window and percent as fill-ins

Treat the signed section like a form with blanks. Window: [____] days (or months converted to days) after CIC closing[, and optionally [____] days before closing]. Qualifying termination: termination by the company without Cause[, or resignation for Good Reason], with Cause and Good Reason copied from the same paper. Acceleration magnitude: [____]% of the then-unvested shares (or units) under this grant. Do not paste Cooley's nine-to-eighteen-month range, Cooley's three-month pre-close example, or MoFo's three-month post-close example as this company's window. Do not paste Carta's definitional table as a percent. The PDF controls.

When the ledger holds

The row holds if person and grant are named, CIC and qualifying termination are copied from the award, the post-CIC window is a day count from that paper, the percent is copied, CIC date and termination date are each a date or a blank, and acceleration applied is a yes or no that matches both triggers plus assumption status. It fails when you invent a window, invent a percent, treat CIC alone as enough, treat a plain resignation as qualifying without the paper's good-reason test, or collapse this grant into the option-pool refresh row. Raziel's startup investment tracker is the book those grant rows should sit on: documents, dates, cap tables, IRR and MOIC. Raziel does not interpret your award. Copy the eight columns.