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Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
51–60 of 75 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#52Do you need that million a year for anything? Not being facetious; for many people earning that sort of money, their lifestyle wouldn't change if it was cut in half or more.
If you want to work in a startup, then realistically, yeah, you probably wouldn't make as much money. But, well, particularly at that level, money isn't everything. All depends on what you prioritise.
I worked in startups in the 5 people to 100 people range for a decade or so; I now work in a big company, but I'm glad I did the startup thing. That said, it's probably a lot easier to go startups -> big companies than vice versa, from a "what are you giving up" point of view.
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#53I suppose the other way to look at it is if your'e making $1M/year now, and living anywhere close to like a "normal" person, you have put enough away in the bank/investments that now you can easily afford to do whatever you want without worrying about money, without getting paid at all. You are in the position where you can choose what you want to do, with the money not even being an issue. So why even worry about th…
Well, I'm not happy where I am :) I have enough that would not be a problem if I made 20% of what I make today, but I don't have enough that money would never be an issue. I'm not trying to optimize for money, but I'm not going to ignore it. From what I'm getting from this thread is probably be a founder might be a better fit for me rather than a startup employee.
Yes.
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#54The strongest case for startup equity as compensation is made by Ben Kuhn, in my opinion, and it amounts to: you can diversify your equity exposure in more companies than you could as an angel because (i) the best companies will want to hire you and (ii) you can quit your company as soon as it appears to not be a rocketship, something you'll have insider knowledge of. https://www.benkuhn.net/optopt/
The fact that this is the strongest argument is pretty damning. Most startups aren’t offering 1%. And that percentage will be diluted as the company works through various funding rounds. Likewise, if you quit, you generally have a limited window to exercise your options, and you have to shoulder the tax consequences when you exercise even if the company hasn’t had a liquidity event.
Many quality startups nowadays offer early exercise (tax-free) and long exercise windows. In addition, in this scenario you're leaving because you don't believe in the equity.
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#55I suppose the other way to look at it is if your'e making $1M/year now, and living anywhere close to like a "normal" person, you have put enough away in the bank/investments that now you can easily afford to do whatever you want without worrying about money, without getting paid at all. You are in the position where you can choose what you want to do, with the money not even being an issue. So why even worry about th…
Well, I'm not happy where I am :) I have enough that would not be a problem if I made 20% of what I make today, but I don't have enough that money would never be an issue. I'm not trying to optimize for money, but I'm not going to ignore it. From what I'm getting from this thread is probably be a founder might be a better fit for me rather than a startup employee.
How much do you think you need to retire, out of curiosity? Someone suggested you'd work 5 to 10 years more, but that seems like a massive nest egg. What do you need it all for?
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I'm not happy where I am :) I have enough that would not be a problem if I made 20% of what I make today, but I don't have enough that money would never be an issue. I'm not trying to optimize for money, but I'm not going to ignore it. From what I'm getting from this thread is probably be a founder might be a better fit for me rather than a startup employee.
How much do you think you need to retire, out of curiosity? Someone suggested you'd work 5 to 10 years more, but that seems like a massive nest egg. What do you need it all for?
In California, you’d end up paying almost 50% of that in taxes. Take another $100k for living expenses (could be much more if you have kids and an expensive mortgage), and you’re left with ~$400k to save per year. In 5 to 10 years you get to something like $2M-$4M (plus market returns). Doesn’t seem that insane of a plan.
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#57Given you have achieved the means for financial security, I think a more important question to ask yourself instead of "what is the best deal I can get" is "what do I want to build?" You have gotten to where you are by being highly-capable and applying yourself consistently. You have the personal skills and financial leverage to bring about many things in this world. What do you want to build? What needs nurturing th…
That is a good advice, thanks. Big companies are not fans of moonlighting like this (potential conflict of interest), but I like the way you are thinking.
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#58Are you a VP? How the duck do you make $1M a year, liquid, otherwise?
A $500M exit isn't so strange if you join a legit and successful company though. You can leverage the equity by puting it in your Roth IRA, this avoids tax liabilities (although it's inaccessible till you get old). Even still, equity is taxed as capital gains, not income.
Like others have said, you need to build something you love, otherwise you will just have a different pair of poorer handcuffs.
Make sure your 1%are not common shares that can be diluted,although I suspect you already know that.
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#59IMHO, stay put. At your compensation, it's going to be nearly impossible to join a startup and have the opportunity cost make sense. Do what you're doing for as long as you reasonably want to, or until the comp drops off. Hopefully you're saving, and then you can either be a founder or an investor/advisor once you want to get involved with a startup and have it be better worth your time. >- If I accept a position wit…
Your math is good, but even too conservative regarding dilution. See my reply, I am a living proof of your math.
I just saw that. I knew 10% was pretty optimistic, but wow, I think you've also talked me out of ever joining an early startup :D
I'm on my second unicorn, joining around their D both times. If one or both of these go public, I might try and do it again, or just go to one of the big public tech companies for a while if they both have solid IPOs. Always did want to work at Google.
Re: Ask HN: Should an experienced engineer join a startup?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does someone at Senior staff/E7 level do?
Pretty much what @United857 said. I had a successful career, but I'm far of an outliner. I did have luck to be at the right place, at the right time. My day to day work is around planning, coding, and system design.
US tech industry has been staggeringly right place/time for the last decade. As a proxy, the NASDAQ has roughly increased 6x in that timeframe.