Jeffrey Le Sage isn’t your usual tech founder. His background is in the practice of law, not engineering. He cut his teeth writing contracts, not code. Although he has lived in California for years, Los Angeles—not Silicon Valley—is where he calls home.

Yet, his experiences provide him with a unique perspective on the startup world; specifically, employee equity. After two decades wading through the moral quandaries, administrative headaches and tax inefficiencies sometimes associated with the field, he went on to found Liquid Stock, a fintech startup that aims to improve access to liquidity for employees of pre-IPO companies.

• How some entrepreneurs became fixated on retention: “As a lawyer advising companies, I heard people say they wanted to keep their employees where they are and stop them from exercising their options,” said La Sage. “I heard some people justify it saying they were protecting their employees from the vultures.”
• Why employee-first cultures may be on the rise: “You're seeing companies led by employee-first cultures,” said La Sage” “They realized that they have to take care of their people. You can't just forget them, tie them down, and assume that they're going to remain contributors to your company.
• The advantage of turning options holders into shareholders: “One large eCommerce company had a massive unforeseen dividend,” said La Sage. “A bunch of employees who had exercised their options participated in that dividend because they were shareholders. The others hadn't and missed out.”