Two things to keep in mind when you are making your choice:
1) Exercising isn’t a binary decision; you can exercise a portion of your options (ex) exercise 40% and leave 60% on the table to expire. This lets you factor in your personal financial status when you are deciding on your course of action.
2) Many series C startups don’t fail or exit. Once a company gets to that size it has a momentum of its own even if it isn’t successful. In my case I’ve worked at 4 startups. Two have exited while the other two are still stumbling along. I left one of the stumblers over 15 years ago so they can go on quite a while!
Two things to keep in mind when you are making your choice:
1) Exercising isn’t a binary decision; you can exercise a portion of your options (ex) exercise 40% and leave 60% on the table to expire. This lets you factor in your personal financial status when you are deciding on your course of action.
2) Many series C startups don’t fail or exit. Once a company gets to that size it has a momentum of its own even if it isn’t successful. In my case I’ve worked at 4 startups. Two have exited while the other two are still stumbling along. I left one of the stumblers over 15 years ago so they can go on quite a while!