> Meaning, if the company's stock went up 2x after year 1, your salary has effectively doubled for years 2-4. If the stock went down -50% however, you just leave and get market salary somewhere else.
If you get 25k shares worth <$1.00 and, you won't double your salary even if the share price doubles. Not to mention that only 1/4 would be able to be exercised, and you have no liquidity to realize the gain.
The assumption in my comment is that your entire salary is in stock — otherwise, obviously you need to adjust accordingly. But only 1/4th of the stock being exercisable makes sense if you think of vesting like a monthly salary — each month, another 1/48th becomes exercisable. Even if you technically own the rest as well, it's more appropriate to think that you don't.
Meaning, if the company's stock went up 2x after year 1, your salary has effectively doubled for years 2-4. If the stock went down -50% however, you just leave and get market salary somewhere else.
So, considering this, the expected value of $100 in stock options is actually more than $100.