Ask HN: only 90 days to exercise options. how do I change this policy?

3 points

9 years ago

Recently I learned that it is an industry standard to give employees 90 days to exercise their stock options after they quit or are fired (0 days if fired with cause). This whole time I was under the impression the expiration date was the latest one could exercise. I am stunned that all the sweat and hard work can go unrewarded.

For now I am happy working at company X but who knows what will happen in a couple years. I don't want to be in a position where I'm forced to decide between staying at company X or losing my stock options - the golden handcuffs.

There are companies like Pinterest, Instacart, Kickstarter and others [1] that are redefining the industry standard by extending the exercise windows. Sam also posted his thoughts on treating employees better. [2]

I intend to approach the founder to restructure the employee stock options while the company is still small.

Other than extending the exercise window to 10 years, what else should I be asking for? And what are the pitfalls?

[1] https://github.com/holman/extended-exercise-windows [2] http://blog.samaltman.com/employee-equity

5 comments