Stock 'N Roll

Christoffer Herheim

Stock 'N Roll is dedicated to unraveling the complexities of equity compensation and highlighting the challenges and best practices that shape the industry. We engage in meaningful conversations with industry experts and thought leaders, aiming to provide actionable insights and strategies for professionals across all levels.

  1. 10h ago

    Private Equity Incentives: Real Ownership, Real Complexity with Clifford Chance's Sonia Gilbert

    Private equity incentive plans work on a different logic to listed-company schemes: real ownership, real money at risk, and a payoff that only lands at exit. This episode is a working guide to how they are built and who they are built for. We are joined by Sonia Gilbert, partner at Clifford Chance, where she advises on remuneration with a focus on private equity and management incentivisation. Host and Optio CEO Christoffer Herheim draws on her experience across MIPs, broad-based plans, and everything in between. The conversation moves from first principles to the practical detail: why capital gains treatment shapes so much design, why companies use pooling vehicles and SPVs rather than putting employees on the share register, and how liquidity windows and top-up incentives keep people motivated when a hold runs longer than planned. In this episode: Management equity versus listed LTIPs, and why ownership is the goalTax as a design driver: capital gains, income, loans, and buying real sharesHow broad to go, and the tiered structures that make it workPooling vehicles, EBTs, and why employees rarely hold shares directlyValuation, hurdles, and the waterfall: communicating what a plan is really worthWhether you advise PE-backed companies or sit inside one, this is a grounded look at what good management incentivisation actually takes. Please note: This podcast content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. Always consult qualified legal, tax, and financial advisors for guidance specific to your situation. For more information Check our website: https://www.optioincentives.com/stock-n-roll  Follow Optio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/optio-incentives  Message us here Join Stock 'N Roll with Christoffer Herheim, CEO and co-founder of Optio, as we break down what works—and what doesn’t—in equity compensation, with insights you can act on.

    Private Equity Incentives: Real Ownership, Real Complexity with Clifford Chance's Sonia Gilbert
  2. Jul 16

    EMI Options: The UK's Gold Standard for Startup Equity, with BDO's Veronika Lipinska

    EMI options are the UK's gold standard for startup equity: a tax-advantaged share option scheme that lets growth companies reward employees without the heavy tax charges that hit ordinary options. Christoffer Herheim, CEO and Co-founder of Optio, sits down with Veronika Lipinska, a Director in BDO's Share Plans and Incentives Practice, to unpack how the Enterprise Management Incentive scheme actually works. Veronika designs and implements equity plans for UK companies and increasingly advises individuals on the equity inside their job offers. Together they cover what it takes to qualify, how strike prices and tax valuations are set, and a reflection on the April reforms that extended options life to 15 years and raise the employee limit to 500. They also get into the alternatives, from CSOPs to growth shares, for companies that fall outside EMI. In this episode: What EMI is and why it beats a non-tax-advantaged option (18% versus roughly 47%)The qualifying criteria for the company, the trade, and the individualStrike price, market-value options, and HMRC-approved tax valuationsThe 2025 expansion: 10-year option life extended to 15, employee cap raised to 500The two-year holding period and Business Asset Disposal ReliefWhen EMI isn't available: CSOPs, growth shares, and US-style instrumentsWhether you advise founders or run a share plan yourself, this is a clear, practical guide to one of the most flexible equity schemes in Europe. Please note: This podcast content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. Always consult qualified legal, tax, and financial advisors for guidance specific to your situation. Connect with Veronika Lipinska on LinkedIn For more information Check our website: https://www.optioincentives.com/stock-n-roll Follow Optio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/optio-incentives Message us here Join Stock 'N Roll with Christoffer Herheim, CEO and co-founder of Optio, as we break down what works—and what doesn’t—in equity compensation, with insights you can act on.

    EMI Options: The UK's Gold Standard for Startup Equity, with BDO's Veronika Lipinska
  3. Jul 2

    Why Do Equity Plans Fail? with NatWest's David Edwards and Nigel Watson

    Share plans can break at any point in their lifecycle: the story, the instrument, or the economics. Knowing which is which is how you build something that holds up under pressure. Recorded live at Teuchters Bar in Edinburgh, this episode brings together two guests who have spent careers on opposite sides of the equity table. Christoffer Herheim, host and CEO of Optio, recorded this episode live at Teuchters Bar in Edinburgh with two guests who have spent careers on opposite sides of the equity table. Nigel Watson heads the incentives practice at Burges Salmon, one of the UK's leading law firms, with decades of experience designing and challenging share plans. David Edwards is Head of Corporate Secretariat and Shareholder Services at NatWest, and has lived through one of the most extraordinary share plan journeys in UK banking history: a share price near 20p when he joined post-financial crisis, and a 15-year road back to £7. Together they dig into why equity plans overpromise, where they break (the story, the instrument, or the economics), and what practitioners almost never discuss openly: what happens when it all goes wrong. In this episode: The three points where equity plans break: the story, the instrument, and the economicsWhy comprehension matters more than communication, and why most companies confuse the twoClawback: real protection or reputational cover?Concentration risk and the employer's responsibility to guide employees on diversificationHow NatWest kept employees invested through a decade-long share price recoveryThe equity integrity audit every company should be running annuallyWhether you are an in-house reward professional, an advisor, or a founder designing your first plan, this episode asks the questions most practitioners are too polite to raise. Connect with Nigel Watson on LinkedIn Connect with David Edwards on LinkedIn For more information check our website: https://www.optioincentives.com/stock-n-roll Follow Optio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/optio-incentives Please note: This podcast content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. Always consult qualified legal, tax, and financial advisors for guidance specific to your situation. Message us here Join Stock 'N Roll with Christoffer Herheim, CEO and co-founder of Optio, as we break down what works—and what doesn’t—in equity compensation, with insights you can act on.

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Stock 'N Roll is dedicated to unraveling the complexities of equity compensation and highlighting the challenges and best practices that shape the industry. We engage in meaningful conversations with industry experts and thought leaders, aiming to provide actionable insights and strategies for professionals across all levels.