Currently a 5a at Uber, got a staff engineer offer at a fast-growing startup called Sonder (staff for them being like Uber's L5b or high L5/low L6 in general) in the bay area that recently became a unicorn. They claim to be a rocketship, constantly compare themselves to Uber, Airbnb, etc. Salary: 205k Bonus: none Stock Options: $220k worth (at preferred price) over 4 years. I feel like this is crazy lowball stock options, but they insist it's a great offer because it'll come out to market rate when they 5x in valuation in the next 2 years. They have been growing rapidly and just raised a series at a 1B+ valuation, and I can see them potentially growing 5-15x in the next 5 years as they think they will, but this seems optimistic. They'll need to continue beating out other well funded competitors in the hospitality space (essentially leasing buildings as hotels). That all said, it just seems crazy to me to expect 5x growth just to get to market rate comp. Data on stock options offers are pretty limited on Blind, so looking for advice and perspective. Expected 2020 Uber TC: 315k (salary 175k) YoE: 4 + PhD Location: SF
Is the role something good for you and your career?
Opportunity to be a tech lead and grow a team, which won't happen at Uber with the layoffs. However, technical learning/growth and problem space would still be much better at Uber.
Remember our recruiters promising the same thing? Don't count on 5x growth.
*sigh* I do remember...
Name the start up
Eh, what the hell. Sonder, a hospitality startup.
If you name the company, people may have real world insight that can help you see past the marketing fluff.
Updated. Was worried about identifying info...
Eh. Maybe a valid concern but not really an issue. Looking at their crunchbase profile, it doesn't look like they've got any particularly interesting investors. Looks like they've already done a Series D. Depending on the IPO plan you may or may not actually see $220k from stock. Market viability is questionable, just like it is with WeWork, just like it is with Airbnb. Their product (tailored Airbnbs) means they'll have slower growth, and I'd honestly question the go-to-market strategy -- I haven't previously heard of them, which is surprising given their claim to be so star spangled awesome.
Sounds like a scam. All the responsibility and half the pay. I think they believe you were laid off. They are trying to benefit from that possibility.
Nah, don't do it
In 4 years? Your options will probably time out or be diluted. That means bigger risk which means they need to pay more
You should be getting at least 400k over 4 years, quite a low ball.
Did you not hear the recruiter? That 220k is gonna be worth 220M next year when they IPO. What are you waiting for?!
Not sure how they claim equivalence to 5b. Comp? About 2-3x short. Other than that, no concerns.