New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: My company is being acquired. How can I maximize my upside as an IC?

Ask HN: My company is being acquired. How can I maximize my upside as an IC?
4 by liquidate_this | 1 comments on Hacker News.
The startup I work at is getting acquired. Unfortunately management won't (can't?) share anything but vague details. My main concern given the timing is that the valuation will be low and what's left of my equity will be eaten up by investor liquidation preference. Not sure there's much that can be done at this point, but I'm interested to get people's advice, both for what I can do now and for what I could have done earlier. Will companies tell you what stock is actually worth at different valuations when you join? This seems like far more valuable information than the valuation as of the last round. Can you negotiate with the acquirer for a retention plan? Unfortunately, as an individual the power balance is very much not in my favor. Has anything like a pop-up union ever been used to get a seat at the table on behalf of the employees?

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