Was reached out by an early stage stealth startup to head some function. Equity they are offering is 0.7 percent. The founders have had a successful previous exit ~ 700M. What questions should I ask? What aspects should I think about? Any previous experience and inputs would be appreciated. I want to think through this in the right way and I could do with some ideas. I like the space they are working on and their problem statement(s) so that's why I'm even giving this a thought. PhD + 5yoe. Current TC is beteeen 350k and 400k.
Feed us more. Which space? VR? Stay away. Agriculture tech? Ok 3D printing tech? Ok Construction tech? Maybe
Infra. My function is AI/ ML dev.
What’s the offer ?
Base is not high. Short of 200k. Equity I specified in the post.
Push for a director of engineering role, I think they are set for growth in the short run based on the experience so it’s a great opportunity go become go of engineering and later join a bigger company as a director if you decide you don’t want to stay after a few rounds of investments
I don't know the answer to that question and I've no idea how to find that out without looking bad.
How many people? You should push for 1 to 1.5% if less than 5 ppl
<20. But they've been around for <2months and are valued around 16M. From what I understand I'll be owning their ML stuff.
Wow , 16M valuation in less than 2 months . Money (and recognition) gets more money
Also see if any of the engineers joined from old startup. Usually the serial entrepreneurs works with their existing teams. So you can get more insight.
Yes. A good chunk of them have been together before and have long standing working relationships
That’s a good sign
Math is simple, company needs to get at least a $100M exit to get to your current level of comp? Push for 1% equity. $200K base is likely the max they can get to. Second, do you believe in the idea and size of the market? Looks like founders have an execution history which is a good thing
DM me if you need to discuss more
Tech Industry
Yesterday
1502
🚨More META layoffs!?!
Tech Industry
Yesterday
1044
I haven’t done shit today!
India
Yesterday
264
Heard congress distributing wealth
Tech Industry
Yesterday
3079
Avoid teams with only Chinese or Indians especially with a Chinese/Indian manager
Tech Industry
2d
41232
Worried that our top performer is an attrition risk. How do managers handle this?
Asked them what is the next immediate goal and how they will reach to that point. Also ask about how they will make money and how is the CAC. You could ask more on equity if you are joining early and if you will drive lot to achieve this goal.
What's CAC?
Cost of Active Consumption. Basically, a way to describe the quality of the snacks at the company. The more you spend on snacks the better the morale. Very good indicator of a successful startup.