[myrandomcomment]

I would like to understand a bit here about what you are saying as having been involved in a few startups and I do not quite understand what you are getting at. My understanding based on experience (successful exits, small exits and crash and burns) follow.

First a 409A is generally engineered to keep the lowest value possible in order to allow the employees to exercise their options at the lowest value via an 83b election so at an exit they can be taxed at the long term capital gains rate. When someone joins a startup and is issued options the value of the stock is set via the 409A (which has to be renewed every year). The lower the number the more likely an employee can afford to write the check. 100K shares at $0.01 vs at $0.25 is a major factor for anyone to consider. Any startup worth their damn will make sure the facts in any 409A fit a low number for that reason. The reality of an exit where you are acquired will be based on other numbers that optimize for forward earns and value of your team and tech.

The questions you need to ask are:

What is the total authorized shares? What is the required process to raise that number? How are we funded? Does funding include preferred shares? What is the preference on those shares? On an exit what is the payment order?

I agree about the salary bands and at my current company we provide them, as well as answering all the questions above upfront to any candidate with an offer.

The reality of windsurf is that the founders are scum and this is going to end up in court for years. Google should be ashamed.