Client Success Stories

From Concentrated SpaceX Equity to Structured, Tax-Smart Liquidity

How John Built a Pre-IPO Strategy for His SpaceX Equity

The Situation

John had been at SpaceX for nearly a decade and accumulated 8-figures in equity through early ISO grants, refresh grants, ESPP participation and RSUs. He had participated in some of the company's historical tender offers, and had exercised some of his ISOs.

With IPO discussions accelerating, the complexity increased: - Large unexercised ISO and NSO grants - Prior AMT credits from earlier exercises - Dozens of RSU and option exercise tax lots - Heavily concentrated net worth in SpaceX - Millions in unrealized capital gains - Uncertainty around IPO timing and valuation

On paper, the position represented life-changing value. But the real question was how to approach it deliberately — before liquidity created pressure.

The Challenge

John's planning needed to account for:

• Whether to stage ISO exercises across multiple tax years
• How much AMT exposure was rational relative to liquidity timing, and how AMT credit recapture would work under different IPO scenarios
• Designing an IPO and post-lockup selling strategy to reduce concentration
• Sell in a tax-smart way, deferring taxes to the future when possible
• How to ensure his life-changing wealth set him and his family up for the future

He didn't want to react to valuation headlines.

He wanted a structured plan grounded in tax mechanics and execution realities.

Our Solution

• 1. Pre-IPO Modeling & Scenario Analysis — Modeled liquidity timing scenarios (IPO year vs. delayed timeline), and analyzed net worth, tax, and selling plan strategies across an array of price points ($250 to $1500 per share)
• 2. ISO/NSO Exercise Strategy Planning — Designed a staged, multi-year exercise roadmap, balanced AMT exposure against liquidity probability, and prioritized grants based on spread, expiration timelines, and risk tolerance
• 3. IPO & Post-Lockup Selling Plan Design — Built a lock-up aware, blackout-compliant selling schedule based on SpaceX company stock risk John was comfortable with, including IPO event sales, post-lockup immediate sales, and post-lockup sales tied to price targets and ongoing periodic selling, plus tax lot selection strategy
• 4. Tax Optimal Divestment — Analyzed 4-5 tax-smart selling strategies and their pros/cons, aligned on a tax-aware long/short strategy and implemented pre-IPO loss accumulation, coordinated a new CPA with equity comp expertise for accurate filings, and prepared to accelerate execution post-lockup
• All major decisions were mapped before liquidity windows opened

The Outcome

• 📊 Defined multi-year ISO/NSO exercise roadmap with quantified AMT exposure thresholds
• 🧾 Structured AMT credit recovery strategy aligned with modeled IPO timing scenarios
• 📉 Built a price-sensitive, lock-up-aware divestment framework to reduce concentration methodically
• ⚖️ Implemented tax-aware long/short and loss-accumulation strategies prior to liquidity
• 💼 Coordinated CPA transition and filing strategy to support complex equity reporting
• 🔒 Entered IPO and post-lockup windows with pre-defined sell percentages, tax lot priorities, and execution triggers