Your company is going public: the equity decisions that cannot wait

Our network's tax desk sees the same pattern before every listing: equity holders who discover, after the window opens, that the most valuable elections had deadlines that passed months earlier.

The decisions that cannot wait: whether to exercise options before the pricing event, how holding-period clocks interact with lock-ups, what withholding will actually be taken at vesting, and whether estimated-tax payments need to start this quarter, not at filing.

For founders and early employees the stakes compound: qualified-stock treatment, charitable planning with appreciated shares and multi-state allocation all reward decisions made while the company is still private. If a listing is plausible within eighteen months, the planning conversation belongs on this quarter's agenda.