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Ask HN: How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have been offered?

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Ask HN: How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have been offered?

#1
I've been offered stock options as part of my offer to join a company.

They have offered me a competitive salary, as well as 200 options at 1300 USD per option. The company is valued at around $1B. Options vest on a four year schedule.

Do I have enough information to make a call on whether this is a good deal, or do I need to know more?

Re: Ask HN: How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have been offered?

#2
Would love to see what others more experienced have to say. The two considerations I'd have myself are 1) do I have enough cash to actually buy those ($1300 is a steep strike price) and 2) is the company still growing fast and is that based on things I feel good about or hype.

Re: Ask HN: How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have been offered?

#6

Would love to see what others more experienced have to say. The two considerations I'd have myself are 1) do I have enough cash to actually buy those ($1300 is a steep strike price) and 2) is the company still growing fast and is that based on things I feel good about or hype.

The company is still growing fast. Incredibly fast actually.

Re: Ask HN: How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have been offered?

#7

    How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have 
    been offered?
Faith.

Most metrics are generally useful for tax purposes and tax purposes only until the company IPO's and 6-12 months (or longer) later you can cash out your options the company's stock has no market value.

Will you work at the company for the full vesting cycle? Will you tolerate the culture that long? Will the company still exist in 4 years? Will the company even IPO? How long _until_ the company IPO's?

These are all risks. Most purely emotional. So your evaluation must also be based on emotion.

Re: Ask HN: How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have been offered?

#8
You know valuation, option count, and strike price. I think the missing pieces are total shares outstanding and cap table.

I.e. if there are 1 billion shares already out, your options are currently worth -1299 and unlikely to gain that much value. If there are 10k options the value changes a bunch.

But agree with others for a later stage company like this, I would value at 0 or maybe the same as an extra vacation day when comparing offers.

Re: Ask HN: How do I gauge the value of stock options that I have been offered?

#9

Sorry, but unless it has some traction already and it has been IPO'd the Expected value of those options 4yrs from now is zero. Unless you are really sure about it, think of it as a bit more than a lottery ticket

Sure the expected value can be zero. I know that options are essentially a lottery ticket. I'm just not sure if these options are very little or enough or a lot.
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