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You are not taking into account QSBS. [0]

When you sell your stocks before 5 years of holding period has passed, you pay significantly higher taxes. So you don't get 500k net, you get 500k gross, or probably 300k net. Which makes the de-risking less compelling.

[0]: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/qsbs-qualified-small-bu...




I do not see the purpose of this nitpick.

The numbers are made up anyway, adjust up by a few hundred thousand and the point that securing one’s shelter is worth foregoing winning the lottery still stands.


This is when you immediately liquidate your stock position, instead of taking a loan using it as a collateral, which would likely cost you 10%-15% in interest, not 30%.


No, in this example the person sold equity in order to get the 500K. They can't use the equity as collateral for the loan because they dont own it anymore


I think it'd be pretty rare for a bank to accept equity in a series A startup as collateral for a loan.


And even if it did, it wouldn't really derisk much for the founder, which was the original purpose of taking money off the table.


Yes. They should not have if they were to optimize taxes.


But then they’re paying interest and very few startups are going to have stock that a someone will lend against. I cannot imagine someone taking Series A stock as collateral for a loan.


Not sure why you are getting downvoted. There are multiple ways of structuring what is effectively selling the shares early that are not tax disadvantaged.




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