throw2192015

12 engineers report to me.

Early engineer at a San Francisco unicorn

16 years of experience overall; 5 years with this firm

Male, H-1B from India

Title - Started out as Principal Engineer, now Sr. Engineering Manager

Current comp: 220K base, 150K/yr of (illiquid) stock

Some portion of the stock is in the form of options, some are RSUs. I took the price per share from the last funding round, deducted the strike price of the options and arrived at the dollar value.

> This is both to maintain control and to avoid having more than 500 shareholders, which triggers all kinds of additional regulations.

I _think_ the JOBS Act of 2012 increased this to 2000 instead of 500.

> How did things work out from a tax perspective if you don't mind my asking?

The proceeds I got from the sale were treated as long-term capital gains. I got a 1099-B from SharesPost.

> Also, what sort of communication did you have with your company before/during this transaction regarding it?

I mentioned my desire to sell some of my stock to my manager. I was directed to speak to the head of legal department. Here is what I learned that person. The company could not provide me with a buyer, or advice me to sell/hold etc. But once I found a buyer, the company was bound to agree to that sale or direct me to another buyer who was offering at least the same price.

I used some of my savings and a cash bonus I got at work to exercise some of my options. I held on to that stock for a year. The next year I sold a portion of that stock in the transaction described above. I used the proceeds from the sale to replenish my savings, which had taken a small hit due to the AMT from the previous tax year.

I have participated as a seller.

I offered some of my exercised options for sale on SharesPost [1]. The SharesPost representative contacted me; she said that she had a potential buyer interested, but the bid was slightly lower than my initial ask and the volume they wanted to buy was a little lower than what I had offered to sell initially. We agreed on the deal.

I filled out some paperwork and sent proof that I was a legitimate seller. SharesPost representative got in touch with my employer. My employer had the right to first refusal which they waived. The process took few weeks with escrow etc, but was smooth.

SharesPost charged me a %ge fee. I also had to pay for the escrow service.

[1]: http://sharespost.com/