A startup offer letter template, annotated, and how to e-sign it
A startup offer letter template with every clause explained: role, start date, pay, equity placeholder, at-will or notice, contingencies, expiry. Plus e-sign costs.
On this page
A startup offer letter needs eight things: the role and who it reports to, the start date, the pay with its basis and currency, an equity line (even if it says "none at this stage"), the employment basis (at-will in most of the US, a notice period in the UK and EU), the contingencies the offer depends on, an expiry date, and a signature block for both sides. Everything else is optional. The template below has all eight, annotated, and the second half of the post covers how to get it signed and what that costs as of October 2026.
This is not legal advice. Employment law differs by country and, in the US, by state. We run a small company registered in the UK with people in several countries, and every offer we send has been checked once against the rules where the person will work. Do the same.
What an offer letter is, and is not
An offer letter is a short document that states the terms you are offering and asks the candidate to accept them. In the US it is usually the main written record of the terms. In the UK and much of the EU it precedes a separate employment contract or written statement of particulars that the law requires, so the offer letter stays short and points to the contract for detail.
It is not the place for the employee handbook, the IP assignment or the confidentiality agreement. Those are separate documents, signed alongside. Our NDA template covers the confidentiality piece.
The template, annotated
Copy this into a page, replace every bracketed item, and delete the annotations in italics before sending. Section labels are shown in bold so they stay readable in a code block.
[Company name]
[Registered address]
[Date]
Dear [Candidate first name],
**Offer**
We are pleased to offer you the position of [Job title], reporting to
[Manager name, title]. This is a [full-time / part-time, X hours a week]
role based [remotely in [country] / at [office address]].
(Keep the title identical to the one on the careers page and in the
contract. Name the manager: candidates ask.)
**Start date**
Your anticipated start date is [date], subject to the conditions below.
("Anticipated" lets both sides move it without re-issuing the letter.)
**Pay**
Your [salary / rate] will be [currency and amount] per [year / month / hour],
paid [monthly / twice monthly] in arrears, less applicable deductions.
(State the currency and the basis. "Gross" or "less deductions" avoids
the net-versus-gross argument on the first payday.)
**Equity**
[Option A: This offer does not include equity.]
[Option B: Subject to board approval, you will be granted an option to
purchase [number] shares of common stock under the [Plan name], vesting
over [four] years with a [one]-year cliff, at an exercise price set at
grant. Full terms are in the option agreement, which governs.]
(Never state a percentage without the share count and the total it is
a percentage of. The option agreement, not this letter, is binding.)
**Benefits and leave**
You will be eligible for [list: health plan, pension or 401(k), X days of
paid leave a year, public holidays] as described in the [handbook / policy],
which may change from time to time.
**Employment basis**
[US at-will: Your employment is at-will, meaning either you or the company
may end it at any time, with or without cause or notice.]
[UK / EU: Your employment will be subject to a written contract, which we
will send with this letter. It includes a probationary period of [X months]
and a notice period of [X weeks] on either side.]
(Pick one. In the UK a written statement of particulars is required by
day one; in most EU countries a contract is required. In the US, at-will
wording is standard but check the state.)
**Conditions**
This offer is conditional on: [proof of your right to work in [country];
satisfactory references; a background check where permitted by law;
signing the company's confidentiality and IP assignment agreement].
(List only conditions you will actually check.)
**Expiry**
This offer remains open until [date, usually 5 to 7 days out]. To accept,
sign below and return a copy.
**Signatures**
For [Company name]: ______________________ Date: __________
[Name, title]
Accepted: ______________________ Date: __________
[Candidate name]
The clauses people get wrong
The equity line. A percentage without a denominator is a dispute waiting to happen. Write the share count, the plan it comes from, the vesting schedule and that the option agreement governs. If equity is not decided, say "does not include equity" rather than leaving the section out; silence is read as a promise.
At-will versus notice. US letters that promise a notice period can accidentally undermine at-will status. UK and EU letters that omit a notice period conflict with the statutory minimums. Use one or the other, matched to where the person works, and do not blend them for a remote hire in another country.
Conditions you will not check. "Subject to satisfactory references" is fine if you call the references. If you never do, the clause is noise, and a candidate who resigned elsewhere on the strength of your offer has a fair complaint if you later invoke it.
Pay basis. Monthly versus annual, gross versus net, hourly for part-time. One wrong word costs you the first payroll conversation.
Expiry. No expiry means the offer stands indefinitely. Five to seven days is standard and is long enough for a candidate to resign from their current job with the letter in hand.
How to get it signed: e-sign options and costs
Printing, signing and scanning still works, and for one hire a year it is fine. Past that, an e-signature tool saves a day per hire and gives you an audit trail. Prices below were read on each vendor's pricing page on 27 October 2026.
| Tool | Entry plan | Price | Limits that matter for offer letters |
|---|---|---|---|
| DocuSign eSignature | Personal | $11 a month, annual plan billed monthly | 5 envelopes a month, one user |
| DocuSign eSignature | Standard | $30 per user a month, annual plan billed monthly | 100 envelopes per user a year; the FAQ says monthly plans include up to 10 a month |
| DocuSign eSignature | Business Pro | $45 per user a month, annual plan billed monthly | 100 envelopes per user a year; adds payments and advanced fields |
| SignWell | Free | $0 | 3 documents a month, 1 sender, 1 template |
| SignWell | Light | $10 a month billed yearly, $12 monthly | Unlimited documents; extra senders $10–12 each |
| SignWell | Business | $30 a month billed yearly, $36 monthly | Unlimited documents, templates and branding |
| Dropbox Sign | Essentials and above | Not read on the vendor page at the time of writing | Check sign.dropbox.com/pricing |
| Atrix (People, agreements) | Included in Builder | $39 a month for the whole workspace, 5 seats, 7-day trial, card required, no free plan | Offer letters, agreements and policies e-signed inside People; no per-envelope count |
Two readings of that table. For a company sending three or fewer documents a month, SignWell's free plan covers offer letters at no cost. For a company that already runs hiring and HR in Atrix, e-sign comes with the plan and the signed offer lands on the person's record; the limit is that it is not a general-purpose e-sign tool for documents outside the workspace, and the plan itself is not free.
Sending an offer letter in Atrix, step by step
- Move the applicant to the offer stage in the hiring pipeline.
- Create the offer from the offer letter template; the role, manager and start date fill from the role and the applicant.
- Complete pay, equity and the employment-basis clause for the person's country, and have one other person read it.
- Send for signature. The candidate signs from the email link without an account.
- On acceptance, mark the applicant hired. Atrix writes the employment record and the agreement is filed under their profile in People, next to the policies they will acknowledge in their first week.
The same agreements flow handles the NDA and later letters, and the People feature page lists what else sits on the record: leave, expenses, policies, letters. What Atrix does not do: it does not generate the legal wording for your jurisdiction, and it does not screen or score candidates with AI.
FAQ
Is an offer letter legally binding?
An accepted offer letter is generally a contract of its terms, which is why the equity, pay and employment-basis clauses matter. In the UK and EU it is usually followed by a fuller contract that supersedes it. This post is not legal advice; check the rules where the person will work.
Should a startup offer letter include equity?
Say something about equity either way. If there is a grant, state the share count, plan, vesting and that the option agreement governs. If there is none, say so. Leaving the section out invites a later disagreement.
What is the difference between an offer letter and an employment contract?
The offer letter states the headline terms and asks for acceptance. The contract (or, in the UK, the written statement of particulars) sets out the full terms the law requires. In the US the offer letter often does both jobs; in the UK and EU it rarely does.
How long should a candidate have to accept?
Five to seven days is typical. Long enough to resign from a current role with the offer in hand, short enough that the role is not held open for weeks.
Can I e-sign an offer letter for free?
Yes. SignWell's free plan allows 3 documents a month with one sender, as of October 2026, which covers most small companies' offer volume. DocuSign's cheapest plan is $11 a month on an annual plan. Atrix includes e-sign in a paid workspace plan rather than offering it free.
Does the offer letter need to be signed by the company first?
Sign it before sending. A countersigned letter arriving in the candidate's inbox is the offer; a blank signature block reads as a draft.
Next step
Duplicate the offer letter template, fill the eight items, and have the person's country checked before you send. If the applicant is already in your pipeline, the hiring feature page shows how the offer, the signature and the employment record connect.
Sources
DocuSign eSignature plans and pricing and SignWell pricing, read 27 October 2026; Dropbox Sign pricing, page not readable at the time of writing.