[hga]

"Startup-bucks are even worse than a lottery ticket...."

Also because if they are worth something, it's a motivation for the company to fire you before you can cash out. E.g. while the discrimination case against Google was settled out of court for undisclosed terms, whatever the motivation, the timing of the firing of Brian Reid 9 days before the company's IPO was clearly not an accident. (119,000 options, $10 million on the day of the IPO, lots more later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Reid_(computer_scientist... )

Given that we're living in a mostly post-IPO world, you could well be better off never getting options....

[paulbaumgart]

I don't think we're in a post-IPO world. We were just in a temporary dip: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/ipo-count-reaches-218-a-postte...

[wprl]

I'd rather be paid in barley than to have to deal with BS politics like this!