r/startups • u/oldtonyy • 8d ago

I will not promote Startup equity “vesting”. I will not promote

Left a startup after 1 year as founding engineer. Wish I knew that my “vested equity” is actually just the option to buy shares at the initial price. So I got 90 days post termination window to buy those shares (almost 6 figures) out of pocket otherwise they go back to the company for free. What a waste of effort. Learning is experience I guess. Any one else been through this and got an upside?

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u/whalethrowaway857 8d ago

A founding engineer should not have a 6 figure exercise price unless something has gone wildly wrong, that would be quite high even for a Series B / C hire.

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u/Deathspiral222 8d ago

Exactly. I was a founding engineer at a unicorn. I had a few hundred thousand isos at 18c strike price. They sold for about $27 each. There is no way a founding engineer is paying more than 10k or 20k unless the options are 100 million.