[kelnos]

> From the company's point of view, it's just like vesting except it gets the money up front.

I'm not sure if this is standard, but that's not the case for the startup I work for. I was told that money paid for shares under the early exercise clause would go into escrow until my shares are vested, at which time the company gets the money.

[anamax]

Thanks for the company point of view - I'd never thought about it.

An escrow account means that the company can do repurchases. I see the logic, but if the company doesn't have the amount of money that we're talking about, it is probably dead, so repurchase is moot. Since the only way I see that money is for a repurchase, not on company failure, I'd never worried about it.