I think we're saying the same thing. If I early exercise my options on day 1, then I still have to wait until the 2 years after the grant date (2 years of empl

I think we're saying the same thing. If I early exercise my options on day 1, then I still have to wait until the 2 years after the grant date (2 years of employment) to get long term capital gains treatment. If I wait 4 years, then exercise, then I have already satisfied the 2 years post-grant requirement, but I still have to wait a year after the exercise to get long term capital gains treatment. The key part was my last clause: "whichever is later".