Esops - what should I know?

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 :)

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?

Hello All, I interviewed with a startup recently and some of their policies around esops was something I encountered for the first time in my career, so wanted the expert advice of the community on next steps. Surprise one: ESOPs will be allocated post probation period of 3 months and vesting starts from there and not the date of joining, I was surprised on this but upon discussion with the company POC I was given a reason of the legal fees involved, which sounds fair but the vesting schedule is it employee favourable? Surprise two: They shared an offer letter with only the fixed component and said ESOPs will be evaluated post completion of probation period basis performance. Upon further discussing in this I was informed that this is a standard format their VC(sequoia, a16z and elevation) have approved. Is this true because I asked around few of my friends and all of them said esops are an integral part of the startup compensation and all of my and their offer letters historically had esops mentioned along with their value. Wrt to point 2 an I asking too much or some practice has changed in the industary which I’m unaware about. Also esop value post probation evaluation, is it employee friendly as the employee is in non negotiable position, isn’t it ?

Please share how your company esop policy is. Is it really valuable for employees or just used to create hype and retail talent. How many years can you exercise them after resignation? How did the taxation go if someone has been lucky enough to convert it to cash? Should esops be a factor while leaving current company or joining a new company?

I’m considering joining as a founding engineer at an early stage startup who is just about to sign a $4M seed round. They offered to match my current base and a $20,000 in ESOPs. When joining at such early stage companies, how should I think of ESOPs so that I can better negotiate. I’m banking on this idea going big and I want to get as much ESOPs as possible to maximise my returns in the future.

Primarily, my question targets startups which went ipo where you may joined when it was a private company and later it went public and you liquidates it. - will your esop units gets multiplied before ipo? - will exercise price gets increased before ipo? - what about the tax? - are there any unknowns and nuances involved which you were not aware of and later realised? I hold esops in a startup and want to understand how this works during an IPO

I have recently left Tekion and was considering executing my ESOPs. For executing my ESOPs I need to pay around $3.5 per esop to the company. Should I convert my esops to equity? Am looking for some advice from the folks who might have done this in the past.