The IPO market is fickle. Someone who joined a “near-IPO company” last year may have been reasonably expecting a liquidity event within 12 months, but now finds the IPO indefinitely postponed and the company trying to raise additional funding in a downround that may halve the value of those illiquid shares.

Personally I’d take my chances either early, with a meaningful share of the company, or post-IPO when the amount of shares is much smaller but its value reasonably predictable.