Document:

EX-10.16

 Exhibit 10.16 
  

 
 Samir Gharib 
 April 8,
2020 
 Re: Employment Terms 
 Dear Samir, 

Spruce Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), is pleased to offer you full-time employment in the regular
exempt position of Chief Financial Officer effective as of May 1, 2020 (the “Commencement Date”), in which you will be responsible for such duties as are normally associated with such position or as otherwise determined by your
supervisor. You will report to Richard King, the CEO, or such other individual as the Company may designate. Your position will be headquartered in our offices located in San Francisco, California, or such other location as the Company may
designate, except for such travel as may be necessary to fulfill your responsibilities. In the course of your employment with the Company, you will be subject to and required to comply with all company policies, and applicable laws and regulations.

 You will be paid a base salary at the annual rate of $330,000 subject to required tax withholding and other authorized deductions). Your
base salary will be payable in accordance with the Company’s standard payroll policies and subject to adjustment pursuant to the Company’s policies as in effect from time to time. 

In addition to your base salary, you may be eligible to earn an annual cash performance bonus, at the. discretion of the Board of Directors,
based on the attainment of corporate performance metrics and/or individual performance objectives, in each case established and evaluated by the Company in its sole discretion. Your target annual bonus shall be 30% of your base salary, but the
actual amount of your annual bonus may be more or less (and may equal zero), depending on the attainment of applicable performance criteria and Company achievements. Such annual bonus shall be paid within three months following the year to which the
annual bonus relates and will be contingent upon your continued employment through the applicable payment date. You hereby acknowledge and agree that nothing contained herein confers upon you any right to an annual bonus in any year, and that
whether the Company pays you an annual bonus and the amount of any such annual bonus will be determined by the Company in its sole discretion. 

In connection with entering into this offer letter, following the commencement of your employment with the Company, the Company will recommend
to the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) that it grant you an option to purchase 775,000 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Stock Option”) at a per share exercise price equal to the fair
market value of a share of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant. Subject to your continued employment with the Company through the applicable vesting date, 25% of the shares underlying the Stock Option will vest on the first
anniversary of the date you commence employment with the Company and 1/48th of the total number of shares initially underlying the Stock Option will vest on each monthly anniversary thereafter. The Stock Option will otherwise be subject to the terms
and conditions of the Company’s 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (as amended, the “Plan”) and a stock option agreement to be entered into between you and the Company (the “Stock Option Agreement”). 

  
 1 

 

 
  

 You will be eligible to participate in all of the employee benefits and benefit plans that
the Company generally makes available to its regular full-time employees, including group health plans, life and disability insurances, and a 401k Plan. In addition, during your employment, you will be eligible for other standard benefits, such as
paid time off and holidays to the extent applicable generally to other similarly situated employees of the Company. The Company reserves the right to terminate, modify or add to its benefits and benefit plans at any time. 

The Company requires that, as a full-time employee, you devote your full business time, attention, skill, and efforts to the tasks and duties
of your position as assigned by the Company. If you wish to request consent to provide services (for any or no form of compensation) to any other person or business entity while employed by the Company, please discuss that with your supervisor in
advance of accepting another position. 
 As a condition of employment, you will be required to (1) sign and comply with a Proprietary
Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit B, which, among other things, prohibits unauthorized use or disclosure of Company proprietary information, (2) sign and return a satisfactory 1-9 Immigration form attached hereto as Exhibit C and provide sufficient documentation establishing your employment eligibility in the United States of America (enclosed is a list of acceptable INS Form 1-9 documentation), and (3) provide satisfactory proof of your identity as required by United States law. This offer, and any employment pursuant to this offer, is also conditioned upon your consent to, and
results satisfactory to the Company of reference and background checks. Until you have been informed in writing by Company that such checks have been completed and the results found satisfactory, you may wish to defer reliance on this offer. By
signing below, you represent that your performance of services to the Company will not violate any duty which you may have to any other person or entity (such as a present or former employer), including obligations concerning providing services
(whether or not competitive) to others, confidentiality of proprietary information and assignment of inventions, ideas, patents or copyrights, and you agree that you will not do anything in the performance of services hereunder that would violate
any such duty. 
 Notwithstanding any of the above, your employment with the Company is “at will”. This means that it is not for
any specified period of time and can be terminated by you or by the Company at any time, with or without advance notice, and for any or no particular reason or cause. It also means that your job duties, title and responsibility and reporting level,
work schedule, compensation and benefits, as well as the Company’s personnel policies and procedures, may be changed with prospective effect, with or without notice, at any time in the sole discretion of the Company. This “at-will” nature of your employment shall remain unchanged during your tenure as an employee and may not be changed, except in an express writing signed by you and the Chief Executive Officer of the
Company. 
 If you accept this offer, this letter and the Proprietary Information and Invention Assignment Agreement shall constitute the
complete agreement between you and Company with respect to the terms and conditions of your employment. Any prior or contemporaneous representations (whether oral or written) not contained in this letter or the Proprietary Information and Invention
Assignment Agreement or contrary to those contained in this letter or the Proprietary Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement, that may have been made to you are expressly cancelled and superseded by this offer. This offer letter shall be
interpreted and construed in accordance with California law without regard to any conflicts of laws principles. The at-will nature of your employment may not be changed, except in a subsequent letter or
written agreement, signed by you and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. 
 (signature page follows) 

 

 
  

 Please sign and date this letter and the Proprietary Information and Invention Assignment Agreement, and
return it to me by April 24, 2020 if you wish to accept employment at the Company under the terms described above, after which time this offer of employment will expire. If you accept our offer, we would like you to commence your employment
with us as soon as practicable. 
 We look forward to your favorable reply and to a productive and enjoyable work relationship. 

 

	
	Sincerely,
	
	/s/ Richard King
	
	Richard King
	
	Spruce Biosciences, Inc.

  

	
	 Accept by:

	
	/s/ Samir Gharib
	 [signature]

	
	Samir Gharib
	 [name]

	
	April 23, 2020
	 Date

  
 3EX-10.17

 Exhibit 10.17 

 
 

 
 March 24, 2017 
 Mike
Grey 
 Re: Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors 

Dear Mike Grey: 
 This letter confirms our
understanding regarding the terms of your service as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Spruce Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”) beginning on April 1st, 2017. 
 Your primary roles and responsibilities as Executive Chairman are set forth in
Exhibit A. This letter sets forth our understanding regarding such services to be performed in such capacity, and nothing in this letter nor the services rendered hereunder are meant, or shall be construed in any way or manner, to create between you
and the Company a relationship of employer and employee. You may be removed as Executive Chairman by the Board, and nothing in this letter is meant, or shall be construed in any way or manner, to create an ongoing right to serve in such capacity. We
agree that you will spend approximately one business days per week performing such services. 
 Subject to the approval of the Board, you
will be granted a stock option to purchase 450,000 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Option”), which as of the date hereof represents 1.5% of the Company’s outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis. This Option
will be a non-statutory stock option and will have an exercise price per share that will be equal to the fair market value of the Company’s common stock as determined by the Board. The Option will
generally be subject to the terms and conditions applicable to options granted under the Company’s 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (as amended, the “Plan”), as described in the Plan and the applicable stock option agreement, and
will vest in forty-eight equal monthly installments subject to your continuous service to the Company as a director through each such vesting date. However, if during your service to the Company, the Company completes a Change in Control (within the
meaning of the Plan), 100% of any shares subject to this Option that remain unvested shall immediately vest and become exercisable as of immediately prior to the consummation of such merger or Change in Control. 

As a member of the Board pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) and related case law you will owe
fiduciary duties to the corporation and its stockholders, including the duty of care (directors must act in good faith, with the care of a prudent person, and in the best interest of the corporation), duty of loyalty (directors must refrain from
self-dealing, usurping corporate opportunities and receiving improper personal benefits) and the duty of disclosure (directors must disclose all material information to their fellow directors and, when stockholder action is sought, to the
corporation’s stockholders). Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that as a director you will be entitled to indemnification to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL, and further to that upon becoming a member of the Board we
will enter into the Company’s standard form of indemnification agreement with you. We would be happy to arrange a conference with our outside counsel, Latham & Watkins LLP, if you have any questions about the indemnification agreement
or your duties in general under Delaware law. 

 

 
 As a member of the Board you will be reimbursed for any reasonable travel and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with your services on the Board. Please keep copies of all bills, receipts, or other written documentation of such reimbursable
expenses and submit such documentation with your requests for reimbursement. 
 We look forward with enthusiasm to your service as Executive
Chairman. If the foregoing terms are acceptable to you, please sign one copy of this letter and return it to me. 
 Sincerely, 

/s/ Alexis Howerton 
 Alexis Howerton 

President and Chief Executive Officer 
 Spruce Biosciences, Inc.

  

			
	AGREED TO AND ACCEPTED:
		
	Signature:	 	/s/ Mike Grey 
		 	Mike Grey
	Date:	 	March 26, 2017

 

 
  
 Exhibit A 

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN RESPONSIBILITIES: 
  

	 	•	 	 Chair, manage the Board Meetings and Executive Sessions of independent directors and plan agenda with the CEO

  

	 	•	 	 Maintain regular communications with other directors and investors/observers 

 

	 	•	 	 Assist in obtaining financing and liquidity for the Company 

 

	 	•	 	 Attract and recruit appropriate talent, including to scientific and industrial advisory boards

  

	 	•	 	 Work closely with CEO to define and develop corporate strategy 

 

	 	•	 	 Mentor Company leadership team 

 

	 	•	 	 Oversee corporate governance

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