Is this true though? In my cohort of early-ish employees that went through a modest IPO, there was definitely some discussion of QSBS in an ex-employee group. That's where I even found out about it, in fact. Buying options (years after company was formed, mind you) was a bet on the company, not on some tax breaks down the line. Holding on to the shares for multiple years after the IPO, now that's definitely a QSBS bet (and still unclear whether a good one, given stock market volatility).