throwaway account for obvious reasons, but here are the facts:- startup founded in early 2010's, took on some venture funding and recently got acquired
- startup forced employees to exercise options within 90 days of leaving company, so lots of employees exercised options with post tax dollars. I would guess anywhere from $500k - $1 million.
- all financials released to shareholders, company is now profitable and has a decent warchest.
- Series A,B,... etc investors getting some money back because they have preferred shares
- employee options/common stock are now worth nothing because of liquidation preference
- multiple executives receiving 7 figure payoutsIs this common practice? Is there anything we can do as ex-employee shareholders? Are there any instances of companies paying back their employees for the option exercises during an exit event? What would you do as a founder in this instance?