If you give them Restricted Stock, though, they have to pay tax on whatever the 409(a) value is -- which is what the strike price would have been with options.

If you give them Restricted Stock, though, they have to pay tax on whatever the 409(a) value is -- which is what the strike price would have been with options. You can give them a signing bonus to cover the tax, but at this point it's easier and actually better for the employee to give them the cash separately and say "you can use it to exercise if you like". Really the difference between options and Restricted Stock is measurable in dollars, so might as well just give people the dollars. (Note that Restricted Stock is not quite the same thing as Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)... RSUs are for later stage companies. But the principles are similar.)