And, as much as it pains me to say this, some companies have a very, very strict policy about _not_ informing their employees or candidates as to what the number of outstanding shares are in the company.<p>Yes.  I feel your rage.<p>In fact, I've expressed it to the executives of those companies.<p>But, as long as things look good, the company is getting funding, and an IPO looks like a possible event in the future, most (all?) employees are usually afraid to make waves.<p>It's like PG often says - there really IS a difference between a founder/early-stage-startup employee, and employees of more established firms.  I'm guessing 50% of the HN core would probably call BS and walk away from any company who refused to tell them how many outstanding shares they had, particularly after they were employees of that company.