#startup #flexport #equity talked with recruiter, he was talking about $21 per share from secondary market (EquityZen I think). But from I can see, there were just <10 transactions so far this year. How useful with such small sample size...? And secondary market is not quite transparent. Then last 409a I believe for Flexport is April/19, and I heard it was around $8 per share. I have some faith in this company, so probably now the true value is better. But how much better? How should I consider per share value of a D/E round startup company's offer in general? use secondary market as baseline or last 409a?
Flexport are worth nothing. Even with the great gloabl supply chain to prove, it failed, terrible interview experience with immature hm
Can you provide something more concrete about the “failed” besides terrible interview experience? The business model? The management? Or the tech?
Interested in this as well. Agree that it should be based on last 409a valuation.
what do you mean , what should _you_ consider? you don’t have a choice. they tell you what _they_ use
The value for you is the difference between the FMV and the employee strike price. If your strike price is 8 bucks, find out what the current FMV and number of outstanding shares are and you can use an equity calculator to figure out what's it's worth. Also look out at how much they've grown in value over the last few years.
RSUs don’t have a strike price
New employees are granted RSUs, and You can’t sell RSUs on private market. Those limited being traded are early employees selling their vested options, so don’t expect liquidity until ipo.
Didn’t realize this! Thanks for the info of this additional risk.
Ah. Didn’t realize flexport had multiple options / equity incentive plans. That sucks.
Using 409a value is silly. It’s purposely suppressed for tax advantage to grants. Find $/preferred share in the last raise, that’s your benchmark. If there is an active secondary market that’s good validation that you can sell as you vest each year if you want. Good check to see if secondary price is higher than last round - says market is bullish on company. Can’t believe how little smart folks understand this. Good luck.
Using secondary market as a guidance is dumb as there is negligible liquidity. For all practical purpose RSU price should be counted as 10$
That is generally poor advice. Secondary indicates liquidity. Especially if on an exchange like equityzen. Go lookup the company on there actually to see if there’s live transactions happening. Means it’s liquid for you. I say this as someone who has sold a large chunk in secondary markets. Don’t quite understand flexport situation if you are getting RSUs and not ISOs. Weird.
You have less than 10 transactions = negligible, I can buy 10stocks for 100$ each doesn’t mean the valuation is 100$. If u go for startup negotiate the stock as per the book value 10$
They’re worth $0 - I’m not trying to be funny. If you want to calculate possible value then you should use the most recent 409a. Secondary markets are bullshit and inconsistent unless you’re at a barn burner company with lots of hype.