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Well in January of '95 I sold 1000 shares of Sun Stock that I had accumulated over the employee purchase program the previous few years. Sure it was only $35,000, this allowed me to purchase a car for cash rather than get a loan on it. When I sold the car in '99 to a used car dealer I realized the same 1000 shares, 4 years later were worth $1.6M. Granted at 1995 it wasn't a start-up any more, but it is an easy counte…
One saying "I've been here for long, I cannot remember of anybody" another one saying, "of course I know plenty of people who made a lot of money".
I think it means, as all other aspects of life, there are distinct clusters of people in this field, with little cross cluster exchange. Either you are in that group in which all of you make money or you are in the group that you and your friends none make much money.
Overall - it depends when you get in, and its valuation potential at exit. Companies with 10B-100B+ exits can create hundreds to thousands of millionaires. Companies that exit at 200-500M, much less, obviously!
As a fairly late hire at Twitch, my equity is somewhere between $500k and $1m.
Is this amount vested over 4 years after the acquisition?
A dead sibling comment claims that $0 is $0, which might be a relevant thing to say if I had not vested any shares yet.
Big companies routinely pay equity packages in the $200k-$1m range for senior people. Some just pay you in cash, and let you make the choice on how much equity you're up for.
I've been in 3 liquidity events, one which was a nice bonus for 4 years, one which I didn't get anything, and the last which has worked out very well for me.
Yes, my first startup job got me into the high end of that range, as employee #5, with a relatively small acquisition. I know several people who took home much more from employee roles (albeit in larger acquisitions) in the recent past. A lot of it has to do with who you work with. In every case I can think of, windfall money for employees came from founders with a track record of accomplishing that (or, in my case,…
Right, PG's advice is not useful for all founders, just the 1 out of every 10 that makes it big. The others are supposed to nut up and get over it. His advice does, however, benefit every venture capitalist.
That said, my wife and I earn a combined salary of just over $500k/yr, and I much prefer this to stiking it rich via equity.
A somewhat dual question, can anyone offer advice on what to look for when negotiating an offer with an early-stage startup with a view towards achieving an outcome in this range? What are some red-flags in an equity offer that suggest it won't be worth what it seems? What are some reasonable stipulations/demands to make as the employee, to protect yourself and your stake? I've been told that there are so many loopho…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is this amount vested over 4 years after the acquisition?
I have not been here 4 years, but that's the full amount assuming the current Amazon price. I don't have any strong opinion about where Amazon's price is headed. A dead sibling comment claims that $0 is $0, which might be a relevant thing to say if I had not vested any shares yet.