The pitfalls of ESOP lifelines at Indian startups

Before they started Udaan, a marketplace platform that facilitates trade between businesses, in 2016, the company’s three founders, Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta, had completed successful stints at Flipkart. The three were among the biggest beneficiaries of Flipkart’s generous employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). By 2016, they had already received substantial sums through selling some of their holdings in Flipkart’s periodic stock buyout programmes conducted for employees.