Plan your Lambda NSO exercise
Calculator · free · no signup · pre-IPOLambda is pre-IPO. Plan your NSO exercise tax (federal, state, FICA) at any expected valuation.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your grant
Seeded from secondary-market data, as of Jun 16, 2026
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$149,637
Hold 1 yr wins by $34,340 over Sell + invest.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $198,700 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$2,881 |
| Additional Medicare | −$1,788 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $10,756 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$3,023 |
| Net at year 1 | $115,297 |
Sell every share immediately; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Exercise + hold 1 yr
Best payout| Sale proceeds (year 1) | |
| LTCG tax (federal + state + NIIT) | −$16,443 |
| Net at year 1 | $149,637 |
Sold 2,837 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 2,163 shares held 1 yr for LTCG.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're exercising as a current employee.
Both columns are stated in year-1 dollars: sell-now proceeds compound at the market return and pay LTCG on the gain at year 1; any cash paid out of pocket on the hold side carries the same opportunity cost.
Net at year N — by hold period
Estimates only. Excludes AMT (NSOs do not trigger AMT), state-AMT, multi-state moves, and disqualifying-disposition edge cases. Not financial advice.
You calculated one NSO decision. The beta plans NSOs alongside RSUs and ISOs in a single multi-year tax plan.
Request beta access →About Lambda
Lambda is a privately held Cloud/SaaS company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
Last reported secondary-market price: $49.74 per share (as of 2026-06-16). Your own 409A may differ.
GPU cloud.
Equity grants at Lambda typically include incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs).
Lambda operates on-demand GPU cloud infrastructure for AI training and inference, holding NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud status and a multibillion-dollar dedicated capacity agreement with Microsoft. Twin brothers Stephen Balaban (CEO) and Michael Balaban (CTO) founded the company in San Francisco in 2012, initially building deep learning hardware, then pivoting fully to cloud services as GPU demand for AI workloads surged. Lambda serves more than 200,000 developers and teams. The company has raised $2.44 billion across ten rounds, most recently a $1.5 billion Series E in 2025 led by TWG Global.
Sources: lambda.ai · research.contrary.com
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Lambda.
Lambda NSO exercise creates ordinary income on the bargain element (federal, state, and FICA) at the price on the day you exercise. The calculator works at any valuation, so you can model your exercise cost at the current 409A FMV, an expected IPO price, or post-IPO scenarios.
Example: at Lambda's last reported price of $49.74, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $14.92 strike creates a $174,100 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $47,007 and $78,345 depending on your bracket and state. The calculator above computes the exact figure for your situation and compares selling now vs. holding through the long-term capital-gains threshold.
All Lambda tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Lambda equity questions
- How is a Lambda NSO exercise taxed?
- Exercising a non-qualified stock option (NSO) creates ordinary income on the bargain element (the price on the day you exercise minus your strike), subject to federal income tax, state income tax, and FICA. The calculator above computes that tax for your Lambda grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Lambda grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Lambda typically takes the form of incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs). Incentive stock options can trigger the alternative minimum tax (AMT) when you exercise.
- Are Lambda shares eligible for QSBS?
- They might be. Qualified small business stock (QSBS) under Internal Revenue Code Section 1202 can exclude federal tax on much of the gain when shares were acquired at original issuance from a C-corporation while its gross assets were under $50 million, and held at least five years. Whether your Lambda shares qualify turns on when you acquired them and the company's asset size at that time.
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your Lambda equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.