> If you are getting shares at inception you are one of the first employees. Yes. Going back to the very top of the thread, that's what I said. The best time t

> If you are getting shares at inception you are one of the first employees. Yes. Going back to the very top of the thread, that's what I said. The best time to join a startup is very early (or very late). > (unless the business is close to worthless) Yes. A new startup is basically worthless, it's just a piece of paper and they haven't built anything yet. That's a good time to join. > I guess it could make sense if the founders decided they were giving you x% of stock, and they used options as an intermediate step to do that for some reason (e.g. vesting). Yes, of course. That's literally what joining a startup is all about! I guess the market is different in NZ. You said "The VC culture here is rather thin and options are not commonly used." It is all about the options in the US (or SV at least). If founders didn't give you x% of the company via vesting options, why would anyone ever join a startup?