Startup Offer
Got an offer from a startup of 175k base + peanuts for equity options. They won't tell me what percentage it is but from available public data I suspect it's about 0.025%. In reality, it will be less since they are in the process of closing their series A (~300M valuation) soon, which will dilute me. I'm sure my strike price will be based on post series-A 409a as well. Even though the equity is peanuts, the base is only 10k less than my current TC, and I wonder if it is worth the risk for the impact I can make being the first EE on the team. Probably higher chance for management opportunity too. I am pretty comfortable at Amazon right now with good WLB but it's been pretty stagnant without much opportunity for growth. The startup is in the dockless last-mile mobility space and seem to be doing a good job of separating themselves from the pack. I do see the merits in some of the competitive advantage they are claiming over the likes of Bird, Lime, etc, but I still wonder if this space is already too crowded. Any thoughts? Current TC: 185k YOE: 8 years in HW
Why won’t they tell you percentage? That’s a red flag to me.
If you’re thinking about it from a compensation standpoint, I’d recommend you also consider the likelihood to get a raise, promotion, additional stock, 401k etc for your TC. If you’re joining pre series A, you likely aren’t getting raises and all the rest so it’s not just your today TC giving up on stock.
Yeah I am thinking about that too. I am at the top of the band at Amazon so I won't be seeing much or any raises until I get a promotion, which might or might not happen next year. No guarantees there. 401k match at Amazon is peanuts, about $3k-ish/year. Tax free tho I guess. I actually think that the startup has a better chance of a raise in the near term if I go and kick ass as their first EE. Even tho they are pre-series A, they seem to be pretty well funded as of now. But yeah, nothing is guaranteed with startups.
I’m not an expert but if they are pre A and you’re the first of your area, the raises will be pretty non existent most likely. It’s easy to justify from a TC angle that on day 1 the offers are comparable without really realizing what it means long term. If you’re in it for the experience and that outweighs the TC trade off that’s perfectly justifiable