Got a vocal offer from Zume Inc. (https://zume.com, Series C, raised about $400mio from Softbank) in SF: Base: 190k Stock: ISO paper money, $550k over 4 years with strike of $220k = $330k spread = $82500 / year Signing: probably yes, but waiting for me to be ready for final offer to discuss this TC based on above numbers: $272.5k Level: T6 YoE: 5-6 What do you think about this offer? Anybody working at Zume or got an offer there as well? I kinda like the tech stack (sort of mirrors of what I'm expert in) and the manager and would have from the start a really important, concrete project I could be the lead person (and which fits my prior experience very well). I think I could push the numbers a bit up and the base above 200 for the final offer. Also I'm starting to interview with a bunch of other companies Incl fb, uber, Amazon but I doubt I can hold the zume offer that much longer. TBH I need a couple more weeks of LC before I proceed with FANG. I had a few days ago a LinkedIn phone interview with 2 LC easy and messed up badly the second one of them (lack of sleep and just did 1/2 days LC prep 🤯), so that's why I wanna take the FANGs slowly from now. Also had a tech screen with Atlassian which I cleared but I doubt they make good offers, so not sure if that's worth my time... Thoughts?
The valuation on those ISOs sounds like bullshit. ISOs have to be given at fair market value, so I think whoever gave you those numbers was probably comparing the value of preferred shares and common shares (apples vs oranges). Read about ISOs; don't be led on.
ok thanks for the comment. I honestly was also a bit surprised about the small spread between strike and valuation since this is normally much larger I think. I'll dig into this in a follow up call.
I meant that the spread between strike and and valuation should be zero, by law. Read about it in detail, there are many online resources about ISOs.
I am working at Zume now. Currently we are working on some exciting projects. I think the base looks quite good. And I am also confident that the ISO will not go to 0 since we are issuing RSU from now on.
Amz -> Zume ?? The choices we have to make these days !!
Well, Amzn is going to keep growing for a long time. But it is hard to say for individual growth. Being in a startup like this can be a good opportunity. BTW, you can always go back and maybe you TC will increase because they always increase the TC for new hires.
I’m going through interview process too. Would love to share experience. Dm me!
OP here. After having looked at other places for a few weeks they came in with an "official" offer now: - 190k base - 345k RSU (note they changed from ISO to RSU recently) vested over 4 years - 15k sign on They say they're currently valued at 1.8bn btw. Anyways - probably going to pass. Did some of you guys join and how is it?
They don’t have product market fit. Money is only paper. Most companies at this stage already have proven market fit but not zume.
Do you mind sharing the interview questions?
Up, they have tons of VC money and funded for the next 3 years. But yeah i dont see yet big contracts / revenue streams
Any update from folks who are employed at Zume now that it’s been a while since their pivot? I have an offer to join as an architect for cloud engineering.
Be ready for that to go to 0
You mean the ISOs? Yeah I'm aware of that potential outcome although I hope that with Series C and this amount of funding it is less likely to happen.
Yeah, their pizza isn’t even good... https://yelp.to/qTKq/1Iph90QxvU