my personal experience on options:- - I was offered holiday pay in lieu, or options @ 20% of their market value the options seemed like a much better deal, so

my personal experience on options:- - I was offered holiday pay in lieu, or options @ 20% of their market value the options seemed like a much better deal, so I took it (as it turns out the smart punters took the holiday pay!) - After 6 months or so most people were terminated, at the termination meeting the CEO told us we would have 12 months to exercise our options if we chose to do so. - 2 months went by, I was then contacted by the new CFO and asked "Will you be planning on exercising your options in the next month, because otherwise they will expire", which was a surprise to me because we were told verbally (lol) that we had 12 months. - So now I was in a bind, pay more money to the company to buy my options, or just give up on seeing anything for my efforts, stupidly chose to exercise the options, which cost me a thousands - When it came time to deal with the tax office, I had to pay the tax on the market value of the options, which was going to slug me again, as it turns out the options weren't worth anything at all, which was good in one way - I didn't have to pay any tax on them. - Also turned out that the VC who had invested in the company had options that were fully vetted, or fully vested, I can't remember the details, but essentially it meant if the company ever actually earned any money, the VC shares had more weight, and in all likelihood, were the only ones who would actually get any money out of any sale my advice on people who are being offered options:- - get some external financial advice - make sure you read the fine print - if some VC has already invested, make sure you understand if there are any exceptions with regards to the options you've been offered - I know this is just obvious, but no matter how close or friendly you think you are with management (small teams this happens!) get everything signed and dotted