I was early at Twilio (#25 or so) and early exercised to take advantage of this one. I ended up with a much smaller tax liability than I would have received if

I was early at Twilio (#25 or so) and early exercised to take advantage of this one. I ended up with a much smaller tax liability than I would have received if I had waited until I left to the tune of thousands of dollars. The keys are: a) being there early enough that the strike price is feasible for the cash you have and b) that the company becomes something more valuable later. If you can do both of those, bravo. But don't count on it.