Yes, kind of - what you're thinking of is known as an 83b election. But you still owe tax in the year you are granted the stock, at the current fair market valu

Yes, kind of - what you're thinking of is known as an 83b election. But you still owe tax in the year you are granted the stock, at the current fair market value. If your startup is pre-funding, that's fine, it will be 10s of dollars. If your startup is funded, it will be 10s of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.