My TC at Uber was ~500k (at the time i signed the offer letter), and i’ve received comparable offers from other unicorns. Google / facebook / netflix / etc all offer around this range for senior 5b at uber. I interviewed for some pre series C startups in LA, SF and NY but their TC offer is only around 225-250k. It’s typically around 180k salary and 0.2% ownership in the company. So for 100M company this would be 200k over 4 years, or 230k TC a year. One startup threw in a 200k one time signing bonus but I still refused. It seems odd to me because i’m taking more risk joining an early stage startup, so shouldn’t they give me more equity than a unicorn that’s about to go public? At the time I got my Uber offer (which was a sure bet IPO company), snapchat and airbnb both offered similar TC for my level, and both of them were also sure bets for IPO. Am I getting low balled at pre series C startups or is their TC calculation completely different? I would like to join an early stage startup but their TC offers don’t seem to make sense unless you’re an exec / founder.
There probably just isn’t enough equity in the pool to be dealing out single digit percents to engineers at series B. I wouldn’t necessarily consider early stage to be B, just A and seed. They already have a key team from prior rounds. You might have to target A and seed to reach the level of equity you want. Ninja edit: what size startups are we talking?
Pre series C, less than 100M raised
With limited resources, they cant spend too much one person, unless you are C-staff. You need to set your expectations right.
Early stage startups can’t compete with Uber and won’t try to.
Tell us how much money you made by uber ipo ?
I'm now in a startup, my base is $200k and similar equity to yours 0.18 (joined at series B). After spending 3 years, I realized I would be making much more at big companies like Google or Facebook, unless our startup sells for really high lump sum (2B). My final conclusion, financially it's less money, unless you're a founder. But if you're looking for joy of building something from grounds up and working on something new and executing super fast, then nothing compares to a startup. It's so damn satisfying. Very enjoyable. It's good experience, but I'm joining Google next month, to diversify my investments, and to get some guaranteed money instead of paper options. Good luck!
They just can't afford you.
The TC is typical. It's a gamble, if the company can get beyond 10B and IPO or get acquired, you can retire.
It is called employee financing, they bank on the fact that some people will accept a low equity offer with the hope the company will explode in the future. I have gotten many my self. In the financial sense none had made sense, but if you are willing to loose money for more fun it can be your thing
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What if it turned to a 1b company?
It would need to 8x before the TC matches what I’d get at other later stage companies, that’s assuming if they ever do go IPO. Series B companies are usually 100-200M already, so I only break even if they do become a unicorn.
Ask for a ton more equity and see what they say