&quot;because the options are effectively worthless until there is a qualifying event&quot;<p>That&#x27;s like saying a lottery ticket is effectively worthless until after the draw.  It&#x27;s not true.  The expected value (weighted average of all possible future outcomes) might be low.  The chance of the long term value being non-zero might be 1% or less.  But, that doesn&#x27;t mean the equity has no value.<p>Yes, people on both sides fail to do to the right calculations, or don&#x27;t have access to the data or tools to do those calculations, but that just means the value is difficult to measure, not that the value doesn&#x27;t exist at the time.<p>If the equity part of your compensation is effectively worthless (to you) then I&#x27;ll happily buy you a beer today, in exchange for rights to all future cash flows from those shares&#x2F;options.