[rconti]

Yep. Just because you CAN early exercise does not mean you can afford to do so. I was fortunate because I was able to early exercise shortly after grant but when I knew the company was going public. Had to borrow some money to do so, but the couple hundred I probably paid in interest was more than made up for in the tens of thousands I saved in income taxes. It takes the right scenario, to be sure. At the time I had no mortgage interest deduction so I could afford a double-digit paper AMT gain; I was still only subject to normal income taxes. In theory when you leave the company, if it has not gone public, you get paid back the money you put in. In practice, if it goes out of business, you just lost all of the money you put in.