[throwaway92394]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question -

Assuming you're an employee with a relatively small number of shares (in terms of company control) - what's the point of shares if you can't sell them? Just _in case_ you can sell them later? Some type of dividend/profit sharing (which seems unlikely for a startup)?

[s1artibartfast]

Yes, the main value is that maybe you can sell them someday.

This is why it is incredibly stupid that the IRS makes you pay taxes when you get them.