So today I did an interview with a graduated Google X company, the interview went quite well and I'm advancing to the in-campus interview but when we were discussing the compensation and I disclosed how much I'm making at Apple (currently $180K + 20% bonus + $450K unvested stock), the hiring manager mentioned that I would not receive GSUs (RSU from Google) but stocks from the Google X company I'm interviewing for because Alphabet policy is that once a company graduate from Google X, they give to the employees stock of that company rather than Google so they are motivated to see that company achieving their target and potentially receiving a very good future compensation. But things get not so clear when I asked what would be the valuation of the company, the hiring manager said that this is a confidential information and they wouldn't be able to tell me even if I join the company, because since Alphabet doesn't disclose the valuation of their graduated Google X companies they can't tell that info, so basically I would have to estimate it by myself which is something that I don't understand and I also don't get how I would be able to cash those stocks in the future. Anyone has any experience with this or can explain it better to me? I'm thinking that I'm not willing to leave my unvested Apple stocks ($450K) for stocks that I have no idea of their value or how/when I could sell them. Any help would be appreciated about how Google X stocks works for this companies that are graduated. Current Apple TC $400K
You got it. That's why I transferred from x graduate to Google after graduation.
Bummer
I had similar thing happen to me. Which GoogleX baby was this?
First, the ppl who leave right after graduation have no idea about value of what they're getting. Second, I'd say you can Google around and about private company valuations and see that they can go up pretty quickly, which is good for your stock. Three Google waymo and you can see this private equity has some very public examples of paying out enormously. Four the biggest change is really liquidity, even though the value of your equity may get huge at the x company, you might have to wait to sell it
1- But if they don’t tell you what is the company valuation, then is impossible to know the value of the shares they offer you. 2- They can potentially go up very quickly or end up valued at 0. This is the same as with start ups. Not looking to swap my Apple unvested RSUs with a start up shares. 3- I reas about some Waymo engineers retiring due to this but I also read that after this happened, Google X totally changed share retribution in the other direction. 4- Liquidity is something I totally don’t get. Is alphabet looking to IPO this companies? Or does Alpahabet once a year offers to buy back your stock and the new current valuation (which by the way, it won’t be a market valuation but Alphabet own valuation)?? With this policy, I think the graduated X companies are going to have problems to attract talent from FAANG companies.
Chances are the shares or not worth as much as your equity at Apple today. But if you stay with the company for a few years it could be worth less or it could be 5x as much. It's risky. I will also say that at startups that tell you a value of your equity, the value is often horse shit. So even find they tell you a value you need to dig into it and make your own assessment
Ask the recruiter on how do you value a XXX unit offer that you would potentially get
Op did you take the offer? Sorry its an old thread I am digging up
Lol