Worked at company for 4 years. About a month after I left, the company was acquired. Fortunately, I could still exercise my options. I paid around 10K to exercise my options and got about 70k once the sale was finalized. Honestly, I was expecting more but I'm not complaining.
I left about $20k in options on the table when I left a company that was acquired about 4 months after I left. My coworker who stayed ended up doing great, but not because of options. The company put him on a $100k-per-year retainer for 4 years to stay on and help port the project.
Retainers are often much better for the little people.
