> It's unlikely that half a percent is going to make more than 10k a year's worth of difference over your company's lifetime, compared to that extra 10k early o

> It's unlikely that half a percent is going to make more than 10k a year's worth of difference over your company's lifetime, compared to that extra 10k early on. It is possible that you are right. But it is also possible that this person is working at a near-IPO company or something well funded. In that case, the 0.5% would be much more meaningful. In the end, I suspect that the most likely scenario is that insiders consider the expected value of the 0.5% to be almost exactly equivalent to $10k/year after accounting for risks. In that case, I would personally consider how much of a relative difference would that 0.5% make (e.g., going from 0.75% to 1.25% might be more meaningful than going from 23% to 23.5%) vs how much of a difference would that $10k make. Presumably people who have thought about this consider them to be equivalent from the company's perspective, but only the asker knows which one is more useful to him/her. If he/she has doubts about the company's exit (as you suggest), taking the money makes sense. If he/she is confident and can delay the payoff, it may be worth it. Hooray, gambling.