<prompt> Human: Im from Michigan, the company is based out of Pennsylvania.All of our official communication was done via email, so I atleast have it in writing the original agreement of 20 per hour and 30 per hour in equity. Over the roughly 6 months I worked on the project, I accrued 531 hours which comes out to 15,930 which is obviously a nice chunk of change Id like to get my hands on.Ive never had equity in a company before, let alone a start up company who isnt exactly openly traded either. They have been accepting regulated investments since their founding, and have been acquiring other companies in return for equity. Im simply a small fish in the sea in their pool of investors, some of which have hundreds of thousands in equity now.Do I have any options what so ever to possibly liquidate this? Or am I left at the mercy of the company I worked for? It was a less than pleasant ending that I have no problem sharing if it is relevant.Im sorry if there is something Im failing to include here, please let me know if theres pertinent info Im neglecting to share.Crosspost from:  <response>: I once worked for a closely-held company that gifted me some shares. This may not be applicable to your situation but part of that was signing a buysell agreement that specified exactly how the shares were valued, under what circumstances I could sell the shares and to whom. There was a clause stating that if I ever left the company for any reason, it would have to buy back the shares at the formula price.So if I were you, I would find out if there was such a buysell agreement in place. Failing that, I would call the controller and inform himher that you want to sell these shares back to the company. Really nag them about it; usually the company isnt in any big hurry, and even if they do buy them back, they may do so with a promissory note, basically an IOU that allows them to pay in monthly installments. In which case call the controller and bug then every week until you start getting payments.Also of course I hope you have copies of all papers related to this equity.If this equity was compensation for labor, it may be worth contacting your states Department of Labor to find out what laws may apply. 