Internet organizations demand more self-reliance.
Now, employees more typically wonder whether the options they are offered are competitive with what they should expect from an employer in their industry, for an employee in their position. As more information becomes available about the practices and functions of stock options, employees need solid data on stock options grant practices. In a startup, the meaning is in the percentages. In a publicly traded company, you can multiply the number of options times the current stock price, then subtract out the number of shares times your purchase price, to get a quick sense of how much the options are worth. In a startup, where shares are less liquid, it is harder to calculate what your options are worth, although they are likely to be worth more if the company does well than the options you might get in a publicly traded company.