Perhaps there should be a "Haven't had an exit or IPO" so we can get a sense for how rare these events are?
Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
21–30 of 191 posts
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is that legal?
I'm guessing if the company was put under administration, employees holding stock (which is bound to fundamentals anyhow) would just be another creditor realizing market rate.
Not sure what "under administration" means exactly, but the company was folding, and the CEO was selling the remains (the software, a few of the people, the name if they wanted it) to an investor who owned another company, to do with what he wanted.
So it was priced at the "market" value, which he estimated to be quite low (and he was probably right, we weren't all that successful at the time).
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#23"None - my stock option vanished and don't own any". What does this mean? How stock options vanish?
This the more polite "I work at Zynga" option?
More seriously... probably more along the lines of company fails, maybe left before vested, etc. Curious to see a list of ways though... or peoples experiences.
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#24You'd have to be pretty dumb to be an employee at a startup because of the money: bad hours, lots of risk, bad pay and lots of personal confrontation.
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#25Perhaps a better question is "Was it worth it?"
we need a multi-level poll
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#26I believe that the exact amount was $112 (net). Unbeknownst to most, our executives screwed everyone over and issued preferred stock to a major investment bank. I, and many others, had thousands of options, but the share price for common shares was too low for most grants to be worth anything. The executives all received bonuses for the sale from the investment bank.
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#27You'd have to be pretty dumb to be an employee at a startup because of the money: bad hours, lots of risk, bad pay and lots of personal confrontation.
Max, are you trolling here? This kinda smells like trolling, because I don't think you'd be the type to generalize across all startups like this.
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#28Can there be a "Company folded, stock options got bought out from under me without my consent for pennies to give to the people who were buying the remains of said Company" option? If so, price it at $200 dollars, and i'll vote for it. On one of my final days I was handed a check for my shares, because I wasn't going with the new owners, and all stock was to be given to them. Was never asked if I wanted to sell, and…
How is that legal?
Employee options are common shares. VC gets preferred shares (typically). When the company is acquired for less than the investment or goes under, preferred shares get paid out first. So even if common shares have vested, there's no guarantee they're worth some percentage of the current valuation of the company.
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#29You'd have to be pretty dumb to be an employee at a startup because of the money: bad hours, lots of risk, bad pay and lots of personal confrontation.
Max, are you trolling here? This kinda smells like trolling, because I don't think you'd be the type to generalize across all startups like this.
It's my opinion. Working at a startup, you're underpaid and overworked for very little financial benefit.
Re: Poll: How much did you earn from your stock options during exit?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is that legal?
Depends on the contract. It could be argued as unconscionable but that is a different matter.
You're suggesting that having classes of shares is unconscionable?
If the idea of preferred shares shocks your conscience, you should spend a lot more time studying how startup financing works (at a nuts and bolts level) before taking the plunge and working at one.