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I have been offered a job at a pre IPO company for X shares at some Y price. I was told that these stocks will be worth around 8x at the time of IPO.

How is the value of these stocks determined? What questions and information should I ask my employer to better ascertain what this means? The worst case is that they will be worth zilch, but what is the possible best case and how do I determine that?

The company is doing very well and has good growth, so I'm confident that the IPO has a good chance of happening.

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This is too vague for anybody to answer without actual data. What's their total amount of shares? What percent do they plan on giving you? There are also other factors that come in to play here. Are you taking a cut in salary? If so, how much? Are you old, young, middle of the road. If you want an accurate answer, you will have to give background on all of these things to show what point of your life you are in. Someone who can't wait around for an IPO if it fizzles is different than Jimmy, the techie fresh out of Columbia. – jsksma2 Feb 14 at 4:56

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Maybe read Venture Deals by Brad Feld to get a good idea about how all this stuff works and the potential pitfalls.

It is very difficult give you a meaningful answer here, as you can't provide enough information without compromising your position.

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