My company sold for $100M and I got zilch – how can that be?
&gt; Again, let me emphasize, this is not inherently unfair.<p>I guess our definitions of what is &quot;unfair&quot; are quite different. I think a better term here would be &quot;illegal&quot;. It&#x27;s most certainly not illegal - but I definitely would not consider it <i>fair</i>.<p>Companies throw options at employees - or potential employees - like candy. They imply, explicitly or not, that when the company gets big and successful, these options are going to be worth tons of money.<p>Most of us here know they&#x27;re probably worthless. But executives&#x2F;entrepreneurs&#x2F;whoever most definitely suggest otherwise.  So it&#x27;s more like false advertising.<p>Now is that &quot;fair&quot;? I don&#x27;t personally think so. I think it&#x27;s pretty dishonest. I think when sale time comes around, they most certainly realize that these employees think they&#x27;re finally going to cash in, and they are more than happy to let them think, even though they know otherwise.<p>Obviously there are exceptions. There are occasions where they actually do end up being worth something. Or where the seniors folks are very clear about how worthless these things actually are. But, in my opinion at least, those are most definitely the exception to the rule. I&#x27;m also pretty cynical for the most part, too. So there&#x27;s that.