
Ask HN: Startup not “giving” me my exercised shares - agitator
I was at a startup for a year and a half, one of the first employees.
Since I had vested my first year of shares, I asked to exercise them. They initially told me that I couldn&#x27;t, and that I could only exercise upon leaving the company. That was a ridiculous claim, and after a few weeks of back and forth and what seemed like hunting for reasons why I couldn&#x27;t exercise my stock, they finally agreed that me exercising at that time was not &quot;early exercise&quot; and that I was able to do so.<p>I ended up leaving the company for other reasons. I still thought the company had value, but it didn&#x27;t make sense for me to stay there in terms of my career. I sent in my exercise notice and check. All great, they cashed my check, agreed to get things worked out and to send me my stock certificate in a month.<p>Three months later, I e-mail them asking about the certificate. They respond with &quot;Oops, we forgot to let you know, companies these days aren&#x27;t issuing certs, and the exercise notice you filled out is legally binding, so you are all good then&quot;.<p>This seems ridiculous to me. I understand digital certs as opposed to paper ones, but I&#x27;ve never heard of anyone taking someones word for it in terms of property ownership. I have a feeling I&#x27;m getting scammed. I read that if I was promised a cert, I should get one. My plan of attack is to request a cert in some form, and contact a lawyer if that doesn&#x27;t work out.<p>Has anyone had a similar experience? What would you do in this situation?
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jtokoph
You could ask for a copy of their latest cap table and make sure you're on it.

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icedchai
Your cashed check and their email serves as a receipt. Move on.

