Stock Market: you can sell almost any time (unless you're trading penny stocks, etc.)
Startup Equity: you wait for a liquidity event, or hope your company is large enough to have an active secondary market.
Stock Market: you can buy/sell at any time
Startup Equity: you have the privilege of exercising an option into IL-liquid holding that you pay for now (sometimes forced to if you leave the company) but have little idea of the future value of.
To be fair, i'm working at a startup, I left a public company to do so. I'm here because I have huge impact on my product, I'm learning more, have more impact at the company level, low BS, low regulatory strangle, dynamic team, etc. I think it is rare to have positive expected value on startup equity unless 1. You are the founder or 2. It is a pre-IPO company. Your odds are probably better buying out-of-money NASDAQ Compsite options.
Stock Market: you have access to the cap table, debt, overhang, etc.
Startup Equity: Unknown denominator. Unknown multipliers.
Stock Market: you can sell almost any time (unless you're trading penny stocks, etc.)
Startup Equity: you wait for a liquidity event, or hope your company is large enough to have an active secondary market.
Stock Market: you can buy/sell at any time
Startup Equity: you have the privilege of exercising an option into IL-liquid holding that you pay for now (sometimes forced to if you leave the company) but have little idea of the future value of.
To be fair, i'm working at a startup, I left a public company to do so. I'm here because I have huge impact on my product, I'm learning more, have more impact at the company level, low BS, low regulatory strangle, dynamic team, etc. I think it is rare to have positive expected value on startup equity unless 1. You are the founder or 2. It is a pre-IPO company. Your odds are probably better buying out-of-money NASDAQ Compsite options.