When a Unicorn Startup Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt

Re:When a Unicorn Startup Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt by BlewisJS on Wednesday December 23, 2015 @11:33AM (#10784069)

You can't presume that they exercised early voluntarily. If you leave the company, you typically have 90 days to exercise options or they are forfeited back to the company. In other cases, they actually just expire after enough time passes, which again forces employees to exercise before a liquidity event.

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Re:When a Unicorn Startup Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt by tvladeck on Wednesday December 23, 2015 @11:42AM (#10784118)

Fair point. I did make that assumption.

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Re:When a Unicorn Startup Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt by alttab on Wednesday December 23, 2015 @12:45PM (#10784487)

To your point though, and to press it further - if companies require that you exercise your options in a window after they vest or they expire - they were never really options to begin with. In essence, the vesting schedule on expiring options is a timeline for you forking over risk-filled cash or forfeit part of your "compensation."

The advice seems to suggest if their options expire if you don't buy them at a certain point (except for leaving the company, which makes sense), say no and ask for cash. If they can't pay, now you know where you really stand.

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Re:When a Unicorn Startup Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt by JonFish85 on Wednesday December 23, 2015 @11:49AM (#10784163)

Again though nobody forced them to exercise. It accelerates the timeline, but it's not forcing anyone into anything more than having to make a decision.

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Re:When a Unicorn Startup Stumbles, Its Employees Get Hurt by tptacek on Wednesday December 23, 2015 @12:47PM (#10784498)

Typically, when you leave a company that issued you incentive options, you are forced to execute within 90 days or forfeit the shares entirely.

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