Every time I read about this, I'm reminded how out of the ordinary my stock options appear to be. I was granted an amount of stock options after ~1 year at the company. They represented about the average % of the total pool that I'd expected. Our company has about 20 employees, 3 founders, no execs. I'm the #1 employee, in terms of salary.
But, my stock options have no vesting period. They expire, and I lose them entirely, should I ever leave the company. This is the same deal everybody got. I've never really understood why they were done this way, it seems rather unusual?
It's always felt like a hook, an ugly way to retain people who've already been there a long time. I've been working with the company for 3 years now, but if I left tomorrow, I'd have no equity to show for it.
Does anyone else have stock options like this? Is it normal?
That sounds dysfunctional, not at all normal. You've given a ton of power to your employer, with no position for you to have any recourse. This sort of plan actually incentivizes the board to fire all current employees, especially those with the most "promised" equity. I can't imagine ever agreeing to a situation like that, unless I could confidently say that, assuming I got no equity (which likely will be the case), it's still a better deal than my alternatives.
But, my stock options have no vesting period. They expire, and I lose them entirely, should I ever leave the company. This is the same deal everybody got. I've never really understood why they were done this way, it seems rather unusual?
It's always felt like a hook, an ugly way to retain people who've already been there a long time. I've been working with the company for 3 years now, but if I left tomorrow, I'd have no equity to show for it.
Does anyone else have stock options like this? Is it normal?