[aetherson]

It's different with Uber in hindsight, but in general, employees at start-ups are already overinvested in the success of the start-up, and that success is unlikely. I don't recommend that most people also sink their cash into their employer.

[zwily]

Usually you do an early exercise when the company is very young, with a low strike price. In those cases, the cash outlay can be very small.

For a later stage company, then math works differently, of course.