legal, equityIs there a site where employees of startups can exchange shares or options in each other’s companies? If not, what legal obstacles would prevent them from doing so if no money is changing hands? Can a startup employee’s employer legally prevent the employee from exchanging his shares or options with a counterparty in another firm?
Stock swaps normally only happen during mergers & acquisitions since each party must decide on the fair market value of each company and deal with all the related paper work, red-tape, taxes, etc.
Most stock option agreements won’t let you exchange an option. To exercise a stock option, you usually need to be an employee of the company. If you’ve traded a stock option with someone else, then they are useless because you can’t exercise them.
Most stock agreements give the company the right of first refusal to purchase your stock if you want to sell it. That means if you have a buyer who wants to buy them for $1 each, then you have to give your company the option to buy at that price. So at a minimum, you’d have to tell your company, and the executives would likely not look favorably on you wanting to exchange your stock.
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