My take on this would be slightly different - how and when can you get the money out if you go in, will it impact your career , and only last looking at potential rewards.
specifics
- what does your liquidity rights look right ? when can you sell shares if you need cash? how often?
- what does the company culture say about 'sell-outs' (people who sell their shares) , is this damaging to career/reputation to go short on a company aka 'no longer believe in its prospects' . will you be branded the 'traitor' for doing so?
Before you start letting excitement (greed) take over, remember Enron as great example people losing much more than they could because culture encouraged all in commitments, discouraged divestments, and ultimately locked them up. Yes, Enron also had plans to be forever, so did Bear Sterns , and so did Lehman Brothers (who were a company before Canada was a country and when US was a third world developing nation).
Now, hopefully with some perspective on risk, lets talk rewards
- was this scheme used before? are there current employees who participated previously and what was their experience?
- have you received and read the actual offering documents and reviewed them with qualified help (counsel, etc) as needed? what would your true rights be? what are your obligations (if any)? what would allow the company to change its mind (subject to discretion of the management language)? what is truly committed to?
"other investment, I could go big, I could go broke, I could stay the same..."
that is more akin to gambling to me vs investment...
so the answer to your question from me would be - "may be, but I will look much harder into it including review with professional help CPA/legal/etc". These are not peanuts you are talking about.