[harryh]

When the stock is assigned to you then there should be no difference between the current value and your strike price. That would be very unusual. That is why I was saying that waiting until you vest might not be a good idea because by then you might have an AMT issue.

I agree that exercising and selling can be a good strategy but we're (mostly) talking about private companies here where that may not be an option due to a lack of liquidity.