[jdfreefly]

At the time I didn't realize how rare this was, but the company was sold for cash, all options were accelerated to vest at close and people were payed with a check.

There was a 50/50 chance we could have grown the company to be very cashflow positive (ie - we sold too soon) and there was a 50/50 chance we would have folded (ie - we sold at just the right time). We were bought for our novel technology and the engineering team was for the most part kept around and given good incentives to stay on for a bit.

That job and the acquisition kind of launched my career so I don't spend too much time worrying about whether the CEO or the board pulled the trigger too early.

[copper]

Indeed - I don't think this happens very often. I was a small beneficiary of this kind of deal, and even at the time it struck me as an excellent deal. Mind you, I attributed it to working with really good VCs and founders.