because today there are bigger problems with taking options than a 5 year schedule? a 4 year schedule was important when a company wanted to go IPO quickly, but

because today there are bigger problems with taking options than a 5 year schedule? a 4 year schedule was important when a company wanted to go IPO quickly, but today, where startups are private for 8+ years, and option terms make selling the options in the secondary market very difficult, it doesn't matter if you vest in 4 or 5 years: next liquidity event might be in 10 for all you know. I work for a company that is very likely to make it, but given that I don't know when in the world we'd even attempt to go public, I count my options at zero. Will I still be happy here in 2 years? 5? 8? I better get used to being happy here until there is a liquidity event, or the equity is worthless to me. I know people with 7 digits in paper vested options, but they can't exercise them: It's hard to afford them, the taxes are killers. Until there is a liquidity event, they have nothing, and all the promise of riches goes away 90 days after they leave the company. In practice, they might have a 10 year real vesting schedule. I don't know about you, but I don't know that many people that have stayed 10 years at a tech company. So that's why the long vesting cycle is fine in practice: The real cycle to getting cash out is even longer.