While many people may not be able to swing exercising all their shares or a generally-meaningful number of shares, you can exercise one.
As I type this I find myself wondering if it's not a bad idea to do in general, so that you move from "options holder" to "stockholder". Comments from those with experience?
I exercised some of my shares in a startup I was part of, solely for the sake of becoming a "stockholder" rather than just an options holder.
I felt good about being a stockholder. I did not get any enhanced access to information about the company (for several reasons, among them that they were pretty open anyhow and I didn't ask).
Company later closed down. Investors with classes of shares that were guaranteed more than 1x return on their investment took all the value and common stockholders got nothing. So, obviously, I lost money by exercising my options.
So I suppose I got "feeling good about being a stockholder" for the cost of what I paid for the options. And honestly, looking back on it I'm comfortable with that. I wish the company had succeeded, but I'm glad I was part of it even if it didn't, and what it cost me was not more than I could afford.
As I type this I find myself wondering if it's not a bad idea to do in general, so that you move from "options holder" to "stockholder". Comments from those with experience?