Considering interviewing for a senior director of engineering at a startup (I have 10+ yoe as a manager and the last three years as director with 35+ reports). This specific startup is at series D round, in SF, with 250 employees and valued at 400M. How much equity in terms of % I should be expecting to be offered? Initial discussion with the VP (the hiring manager) seemed very positive but want to be prepared when it comes to knowing a reasonable range number. Is 0.5% reasonable (which would put the grant at 2M at the current valuation, but clearly everybody is still expecting significant growth) or too much considering the late stage of the company and the unlikelihood of them going belly up at this point? Btw they still offer options, no RSUs yet. Cash comp is going to be in the 250-300k range. Thanks
Thanks. I routinely see on here E6-E7 FAANG engineers who post their TC in the 600k-1M range, so that’s not terribly different than the TC of a director position *outside* FAANG, like me (if you do the math, cash + 0.5% equity would come down to about 800k/y TC).
A friend got 0.5% Equity in series C startup valued at 600~M in SF as head of data science . Cash comp was same as his Google job . Not sure if that helps but that’s all I know
0.25-0.5 is right for a head of role or "senior director" role in a critical position, post series B or C. 0.5-1.0 for a VP role post series B or C (VP of eng, VP of data science, or similar). Earlier stage should scale up accordingly. Product market off looks fishy, then you need to double range. Valuation is mega, then half. There you have it - your guide to moving to startup leadership roles.
Thanks folks, that’s helpful
👍 let us know how much you get !
I think 0.5% for a director role for a series D would be unreasonably high absent extenuating circumstances. The entire size of the employee option pool (non-founders) is likely around 15% +/- 5%, and you will likely have no idea how exhausted or not it is at this point. One way evaluate the offer, especially for later stage companies, is what's called the "size of the ride." Meaning, if you were a VC and had money / access, instead of talent & experience as an employee, what is the cost of what is being offered to you / what is the bet being placed on your behalf? It goes beyond strike price as it's not uncommon for preferred to be at say $1.00/share, and options still being issued at say $.30/share. Now, preferred has built in protections and other factors that make it preferred and hence better, but the point being is that you're getting a discount vs what the VC's put in. You can ask the price of the preferred at the last round, but you're probably better off looking it up on crunchbase, and also the current employee issue price (409a). Paradoxically, B/C/D is also (aside the the very beginning) the best time to join as the product/market fit is worked out, you're still getting discounted common shares, but the risk is actually lower than earlier, and the strike price doesn't ramp up as much to accommodate that, at least if your leaders know what they are doing. This is older, but directionally correct: https://www.mystockoptions.com/articles/stock-grant-sizes-in-pre-ipo-tech-companies If you get ISO's be sure and 83(b) (if they allow early exercise etc).
Think few here - including myself - are qualified for an intelligent answer on this. You seem to be at the cusp of doing something most can only dream of. Congrats.