ESOP Exercise Query

Hi, Say a Series B (US) funded startup gives me 3000 shares which are worth $5/share. It follows the usual vesting period of 4 years. Now assume 4 years have passed and all the 3000 shares are vested but the company hasn't gone IPO. Here are my quesions - When exercising US stocks in India, what is the % of withholding tax I should pay? - Say if I exercised all the shares and if I decide to leave the company do I get to keep those exercised shares with me forever? I prefer answers from people who have exercised ESOPs before. I don't want answers like "It depends, Talk to your HR or CA". Appreciate any inputs.

Hello guys, I would want to know what is the benefit of getting ESOPs in an early stage startup? The startup has a great team and working on a promising product. I have been offered a package with somewhat lower fixed component and somewhat higher ESOPs. Need insightful pointers here. TIA :)

Please share the knowledge you've about these two!

I have some vested ESOPs. I want to buy the shares from a private company that granted the ESOPs. The ESOPs grant letter is paper based on company letter head. I wanted to exercise my partially vested options, I wanted to know a few things. Could the company play any delay tactics? Let us say I email them Today. What's ideally be the tentative timeline to excercise the options, given I have money to buy and hold the stock. If the valuation at moment is unknown, could it be bought at last known valuation?

Hi, I have an ESOPs related question. Appreciate any inputs. Consider a Series B startup providing an employee with 5000 shares. After 2 years, 2000 shares are vested and exercised by the employee. The stocks were never liquidated because the company didn't conduct buyback nor went IPO. Now, assume the company lays off that employee after 2 years, - Can he still hold the vested and exercised 2000 shares? - If yes, then can he sell those stocks during future buyback even if he isn't an employee? - Will the company provide accelerated vesting for the remaining 3000 shares during layoff? (not mentioned on offer letter)

Truths about ESOP 101 After working in multiple fast growth startup’s and having been part of multiple buybacks as well as being in the startup ecosystem for a decade I want to put to bear my pov about creating wealth through ESOP. Like any other randomised event, ESOP also follows Pareto principle which means a very small number of people within the company ever make sizable wealth that they elevate to the top 0.1% of the country. The Pareto also applies with companies; significantly small minority of companies in India have employee friendly policies which enables an employee to create wealth. Most startup’s have dark patterns within their esop policy which either locks you in for insufferable durations or forces you to pay exorbitant taxes to gain the right to exercise your esops when you are leaving the company. Survivorship bias plays a huge role in enabling the narrative that esop is a great wealth generating tool leading to rude awakening for an employee after they join a company. This doesn’t mean you can’t make wealth, it just means don’t get carried away by narratives and take preventable errors in your career. Always talk to multiple people in startup’s and ask relevant questions to understand esop policies better. Like everything else optimising only for esop for wealth creation will mostly not result in it.

I am in discussion with some very early stage startup and if things work out then will be part of the founding team. They have promised to give me same salary as the current company’s salary but give ESOP. Is ESOP worth it if you are founding team member? The founder has sold his previous company so higher chance of success it looks to me. Is there any case where person made huge money on ESOP?

Where did you work and how much money did you make? Asking as it looks like a lot of promise of ESOPs and wealth creation has failed employees in this bloodbath slow growth, layoffs, and job changes.

Hi folks, I'm Kashish, the CEO of EquityList and Founder of Cloud Capital which I run as a solo GP. A little bit about what we do: EquityList is a full-stack equity management platform by AngelList India. Companies across India, US and Singapore use EquityList to manage their cap table, stock options (ESOP/SAR), shareholders, and related compliances. Managing equity for 10k+ stakeholders, 250+ companies and ~$1B in stock options. Cloud Capital has deployed $8M+ in 55+ startups such as Airmeet, Rupifi, Orange Health, DevRev, ZET (OneCode) and others. I've also angel invested in startups such as OSlash, Atlys, Chronicle, Even Healthcare and others. Excited to do this AMA, and look forward to answering any of your questions about ESOPs, cap table management, investing, entrepreneurship, and more! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kashisharma