[mike10921]

"Taking loans for early exercise is risky, but ultimately, we're adults who are responsible for our own decisions." Yes, agree. If the situation was reversed and these employees made money from their investment no one would be complaining.

My guess is overall Bolt was actually being nice to their employees and allowing them to get in early on the action (i might be wrong but i've been in similar situations and usually the intent is good)

[dhd415]

I agree. I don't see any way that Bolt benefits from having outstanding loans to employees for early option exercise, so all this criticism of them seems misplaced. Say what you want about their business model, valuation, etc., but this looks to me like an honest attempt to help employees with early option exercises. Stock options are risky at any juncture, but I appreciate having the option to exercise early as the tax benefits can be substantial.

[chris11]

Agreed. The biggest issue I have with it is only having 90 days to repay if you leave. I hope they company works with those individuals, a few people might be in some serious trouble. And I'm curious how much was loaned, it's 200k just from the people who were laid off.

But I'm not sure how Bolt significantly benefit financially from this program. And $200k is not a ton of money for a unicorn. If you're an early employee at a unicorn you can work with 3rd parties to make more aggressive financial decisions.