[hn_throwaway_99]

> This is not true if, like most stock options, yours are ISOs and you don't hit AMT.

I think for most folks in tech not hitting AMT with any reasonably sized option grant worth buying will be extremely rare:

1. Options vest, usually over a 4 year span, so if one, two, three years go by at your startup and there isn't a large difference between your strike price and the current valuation, well then that's a huge signal you don't want to buy in any case. 2. Given your average software developer salary and average range of options, it takes very little to actually hit AMT.