Don't take a pay cut.
Big companies are offering $400k+ for E5 (mid-senior) engineers. No startup in the world will be able to match that in liquid compensation.
Ask HN: Joining a Late Series Startup in SV. Please Help
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Re: Ask HN: Joining a Late Series Startup in SV. Please Help
#12Don't take a pay cut.
Big companies are offering $400k+ for E5 (mid-senior) engineers. No startup in the world will be able to match that in liquid compensation.
Then they should raise enough money to afford their employees. (Or make their equity meaningful, with longer exercise windows or by loaning the money for early exercise).
Re: Ask HN: Joining a Late Series Startup in SV. Please Help
#13Don't spend any money until you are sure you'll be getting a return -- def. not on day one. I've never actually heard of a compensation structure which has >$100k of options to even spend on day one. Most of the time they are vested on a schedule.
That's a common way to save on taxes by paying a bit upfront. It's usually not done at such a late stage because of the cost when the strike price is high. It's more common in pre-A or at least pre-B companies when the strike price is smaller.
I certainly wouldn't drop 100k unless they offer a commensurate signups bonus (the 100k goes to the company so they could give you a bonus of $100k if you exercise the options which should help, though you'd still be on the hook for the taxes on that bonus).
Re: Ask HN: Joining a Late Series Startup in SV. Please Help
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Big companies are offering $400k+ for E5 (mid-senior) engineers. No startup in the world will be able to match that in liquid compensation.
Then they should raise enough money to afford their employees. (Or make their equity meaningful, with longer exercise windows or by loaning the money for early exercise).
They have raised a significant amount but have been stingy in the stock options grant.
Re: Ask HN: Joining a Late Series Startup in SV. Please Help
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's 1 year cliff for vesting but apparently one can excercise at the current strike price on day one and that's pretty common among other startups with folks who want to avoid the AMT
It's "83(b) election." It's interesting a late stage startup is offering this. But do NOT do it. Do this only for very early stage startups where your total expense might be a few thousand dollars for maybe 1% or more of the startup. At most, you lose a few thousand dollars. Spending $100K to optimize possible future taxes is a bad idea. At this stage, you should just think that future AMT is a good problem to have.…
At some point in the future, if it becomes clear that the company is on path for an ipo I could pay for it then.
I will hold off until then.
Re: Ask HN: Joining a Late Series Startup in SV. Please Help
#16Cash is king - keep your savings in the account. We're really overdue for a rebalancing of the economy and you want the cash at that time. That is a gaurantee. This startup, where it could succeed will more likely not go public.
Keep your current job or get a job that pays you better, but hold on to your CASH!