Sad story but the author did not show sound judgement even on the way out. Very foolish to throw away money by allowing options with a significant premium expire.
For anyone else in this position, there are companies that will purchase the options immediately and give you liquidity. Yes they charge a significant fee for the service but at least you get something.
> I would even prefer to buy Bitcoins for that amount, than to invest it in GitLab.
Hope he bought the BTC!
This is a little sad. That was 1.5 million dollars of vested share for the price of $4050 + taxes.