111–120 of 213 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
1% equity in a series C startup sounds wildly optimistic. You would most likely not get that much equity as a senior software engineer. It's interesting that your first calculation still favours the other choice.
Yeah, I agree. No way someone in C round will get 1%.
I'll never forget when a startup tried to poach me to be Employee #2 or 3 and refused to even match my previous salary and suggested that I really wasn't taking their equity (.15%, I think?) seriously enough. I told them that if they had a billion dollar exit in five years it still wouldn't bring me up to what I wanted, and then they said, "Well, all the tech guys we talked to said $YOUR_COMPANY overpays by 20%. We…
Yep, IMO unless you are a founder, if your company isn't one of the top companies of the decade your 4-6 years of pay-cut toil as an early employee will likely just not be worth it, at all. The expected value of working at an early startup gets overestimated, by a lot. If you're optimizing your career, either make the most you can at an established company, or start a startup. Or... work at an enlightened startup, th…
Yes FYI last years basic employee (5 year) scheme at BT returned over $200,000 if you maxed out the contribution, Bear in mind this was avaible any employee even a junior engineer (lineman in US speak). Oh and you had zero chance of losing any money and you can take share save money tax free
I'll never forget when a startup tried to poach me to be Employee #2 or 3 and refused to even match my previous salary and suggested that I really wasn't taking their equity (.15%, I think?) seriously enough. I told them that if they had a billion dollar exit in five years it still wouldn't bring me up to what I wanted, and then they said, "Well, all the tech guys we talked to said $YOUR_COMPANY overpays by 20%. We…
That would make my blood boil. I'd probably say something like "if money isn't a big deal I'm sure you'd be fine to just give me some of your salary, right?"
I'll never forget when a startup tried to poach me to be Employee #2 or 3 and refused to even match my previous salary and suggested that I really wasn't taking their equity (.15%, I think?) seriously enough. I told them that if they had a billion dollar exit in five years it still wouldn't bring me up to what I wanted, and then they said, "Well, all the tech guys we talked to said $YOUR_COMPANY overpays by 20%. We…
I had a similar offer. $0 pay and maybe 1% equity. Sent them a spreadsheet explaining how inappropriate the offer was.
Yep, IMO unless you are a founder, if your company isn't one of the top companies of the decade your 4-6 years of pay-cut toil as an early employee will likely just not be worth it, at all. The expected value of working at an early startup gets overestimated, by a lot. If you're optimizing your career, either make the most you can at an established company, or start a startup. Or... work at an enlightened startup, th…
I completely disagree. It's really not hard to find a company with great product market fit, say series B, get a bunch of equity, a decent salary, and wait a couple years for your equity to be valuable. Assuming the company is successful (of course there's risk there, but by series B a lot has been mitigated), your equity will likely be quite valuable. I actually think, risk adjusted, that's the easiest way to make a…
Still so many phony companies out there even at Series B.
> I actually think, risk adjusted, that's the easiest way to make a bunch of money.
It's really not. Risk-adjusted go work at Google for 10 years and you'll probably make more.