What would it take to leave a super-growth unicorn?
Given today's news, let's use DoorDash as an example: say you've been there 1-2 years as their valuation's grown by more than 7x now. How does any job opportunity break those golden handcuffs?
DoorDash lol, no thx. Pretty sure their valuation won’t hold up in the public market....I’d rather take 1/2 the equity for liquid stock.
Well, it's getting to be late-stage and close to IPO - would you say their valuation is less accurate than those in similar situations, e.g. Slack, Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, Airbnb?
Not sure why Uber is talking so much when UberEats is shit and still values itself at $6B. They’ll be irrelevant in the food delivery space by next year and only the real winners will survive.
Those aren’t golden handcuffs until company goes public and holds its valuation for longer period of time. It’s all imaginary paper money that has low chance of becoming real
Doordash are a bunch of lying bastards. Hardly a poster child for this thought experiment.
Hmm, in what way though. Did they lie about their valuation to you when giving an offer etc.?
I wouldn't waste my time interviewing there. They lie to their customers about pricing and promotions.
It boils down to whether you're happy and can endure what's happening at the company. Those who are motivated mainly by money might stick around until they realize most of the value they could potentially get. For others, the question is whether you can keep focusing on their work. For instance if you're not learning anything or are extremely burnt out or unhappy, you are not really doing yourself a service when you look at the long term. Just like company stock appreciates, your value also appreciates depending on how fast you learn and the skills you acquire. So you need to balance both.
Really helpful, thanks! I guess I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around - sure, money isn't everything, but wouldn't it still be worth being miserable for a little while for such a huge increase in your net worth? My curiosity boils down to: if you're really unhappy, when is a good time to leave a company in this situation to maybe achieve a happy medium financially and mentally?
I don't think there is a universal answer to that question. It depends on your personal life situation, overall financial stability and your long-term goals. If you think this is life changing money, then it is definitely worth sticking around until majority of your shares vest. Usually, that could be around the 4 year mark. Once your initial grant is fully vested, the remaining stocks may not be worth that much to stay behind. You will easily get similar or better offers elsewhere.
Extreme unhappiness ?
At what level of extreme happiness would you leave that jackpot behind?
The one where you figure out your life priorities