This reflects one of the more notable changes of late in the basic SV startup template. More companies are going with so-called "extended" exercise windows, converting from 90-day-window ISOs to multi-year-window NSOs upon exit. Zach Holman (ex-Github) wrote a short, fun post on this a couple years ago.[1] Y Combinator has made it their standard around when Pinterest did it as well.[2]

It was fun to watch Andreessen Horowitz criticize[3] ten year windows and then backtrack[4] after a public flogging. That was when the power balance shifted towards more employee-friendly terms.

The part of this I'm still trying to figure out is when does it makes sense to offer RSUs over ISO/NSOs. My general sense is it works better for bigger companies than tiny startups, but I forget the details.

[1] https://zachholman.com/posts/fuck-your-90-day-exercise-windo...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11198991

[3] "A 10-year exercise window is really a direct wealth transfer from the employees who choose to remain at the company" https://a16z.com/2016/06/23/options-timing/

[4] "the 90-day exercise essentially pits cash-rich employees against cash-poor ones. And that isn’t right." https://a16z.com/2016/07/26/options-plan/