Vest in peace or leave?

Hi everyone,

I am the founder of a startup which was acquired by big G last year. We were trying hard for two years and things were going OK; not great. I wanted to persist but our investors decided to sell us. Monetarily, the deal was good for me, other employees and the investors. Or at least, that's what it felt on the paper. While the investors got their money, we got golden handcuffs for four years. Our product was shut down and now, we are part of different teams here. Some are happy, some are sad, and I am burnt out.

I have vested 25% of my equity and that's more than I could have imagined before coming to the valley. Every day work drains me, I don't enjoy being here. I can change teams but I don't think that will solve the problem. I want to take a break and then do another startup or join a smaller company.

My current compensation translates to about half-a-million a year. While I can try getting a smaller company to match that, I don't think I would be able to perform well, given the burn out I had here in past one year. Am I too short-sighted to wait? Should I leave?

Note: I don't mind posting all the details here since my manager already knows my current state of mind.

Define "smaller company". Because half-a-million a year is not likely to resemble anything you'll get from anywhere outside the companies who are known to pay comparatively very, very high IC and mid-tier management salaries (Google, LinkedIn, Netflix, VMWare, etc.).

I know a lot of people working at a lot of very successful "smaller companies" (for my definition of smaller), and none of them make as much as that. This includes many VP's, SVP's, and the like.

I'd tough it out for a while if I were you. That's 'fuck you' money anywhere outside of the valley and NY. You have a whole lifetime to do whatever you want after this.

Yeah, major component is the RSU grant.

That's what I want to but everyday feels like a burden.