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I wouldn't bother, you're going to lose your money. If the company pulls through, or finds a buyer for their product, it's highly likely they will play games and essentially extinguish your shares.
I'm mostly kidding, but also not really -- I would seriously put some thought into whether any part of you thinks that this is really a unique investment opportunity, if you're really on some "inside edge" or discounted price given the admittedly subpar position of the company, and if this really differs in any marginal way from any other more liquid form of speculation or downright betting. I don't have the details but this screams "poor financial decision" from where I'm sitting.
Yeah... sure. You kinda shot yourself in the foot here.
When a startup is trying to survive they’ll give up a tremendous amount of equity because the alternative is 80% of nothing or 40% of something.
Does that $13k hurt you to pay out? If it’s not that painful, you can weigh that.
For what’s its worth, I didn’t exercise my options when leaving the last two companies and I felt so sick to my stomach when the last one sold for a couple hundred million but then I looked & saw they sold for less than their last valuation so my shares would’ve been even more watered down in value.
> promising blockchain startup This can't be a serious post
If you believe in blockchain and want to make an extremely risky, but potentially high payoff, bet, I'd personally just split the 13k across BTC and ETH. Those can also go to zero, or grow another 10x+, but you are at least exposed to the entire industry, rather than a single startup. The investment would also be far more liquid, and you could sell at anytime. Even the most successful crypto startup (Coinbase) hasn't done as well as an investment in BTC.
Don't get trapped into overvaluing the options because you already own them. If you had never worked at the company, and they called you today asking to buy 2.3% for $13k, would you do it over buying BTC?
> promising blockchain startup This can't be a serious post
I am convinced most blockchain startups are solutions looking for problems. Yes, there are exceptions... Maybe this person is involved with one them?
I agree with the latter
If the former, please provide examples. I am all ears
Don't kid yourself into thinking this is a good bet. It is a huge gamble that most likely will not pay off. If you can accept that and still want to do it, go ahead. If you don't want to take the risk, don't.
1) The company just fired all of its employees
2) The company just fired all of its employees
3) The company just fired all of its employees
That's a really bad sign. Even if they raise additional money, it likely won't be on good terms. With the price of bitcoin way down from it's peak, and much of the "fools" money in this space dried up, I can't imagine that a company who is so close to the edge that they have to fire all of their employees is going to get great fundraising terms.
But take my advice with a grain of salt, as you obviously know and understand the company better than I do.
As an aside, the fact that you are asking here likely means that you have an emotional investment in the company. I get it. If you really have FOMO, you can always split the difference and maybe exercise half the options, or whatever amount you wouldn't mind losing. I once exercised a few thousand dollars of options knowing that it was a bad investment, but also knowing that if I was wrong and the company did well, I'd have a terrible regret. And it's purely because I worked there for a few years... it's not like I obsess over the fact that I didn't make an early investment in Amazon (where I never worked), even though logically that's the same thing.