To be fair, a venture-backed company remaining private for 10 years wasn't terribly common and probably wouldn't factor highly in anyone's risk assessment. If someone asked "what happens to these options in 10 years if you don't go public or get acquired?" they'd likely be ridiculed for being difficult. And I don't think start-ups want that to become the new mentality or they'll get more push-back on comp structure.

> If someone asked "what happens to these options in 10 years if you don't go public or get acquired?" they'd likely be ridiculed for being difficult.

Let's hit the presses: tech startups hate engineers that think of edge cases

> That being said, I think it would be reasonable to contemplate regulations that prevent private companies from blocking secondary market sales if they offer stock options/RSUs to employees.

Either that, or IRS not consider the exercise as taxable until those conditions imposed by the company preventing secondary sale are lifted.