First company if I had chosen to exercise when I left maybe 10k. A second company I chose to give up 5k in salary to get some shares which I opted not to exerci

First company if I had chosen to exercise when I left maybe 10k. A second company I chose to give up 5k in salary to get some shares which I opted not to exercise when I left. Now, I follow these rules: 1) optimize for cash. Stock is cherry on top. 2) if weighing two offers the one with RSUs should be weighted more. No "handcuffs" needing to pay to exercise if you leave. Number 2 is referring to later stage private company. I haven't worked at a company where strike price is pennies or whatever, or a public company where you can sell at time of exercise. Then handcuffs may be worth it.