How do you compare offers from early stage and Series A startups against your comp when you’re at FAANG? Thinking about making the jump but its tough to reason about equity when its not real comp and if itll be worth it in the long run. Example: If you had 100k unvested RSU, do you expect 100k in options, or more for the risk/strike price? TC 470
Initial TC will be less. Expected TC will also be less. If the startup grows more than expected, you might make more money. You have to want to do it for more than the money or you’re going to be dissatisfied
Think about worst case scenario. You don’t get anything from the stock options. That happened a lot. Unless you join ones with a clear path to IPO, I wouldn’t count it as the future income. I worked at a start up that got acquired. My stock options are nothing but the RSU of the new company was a lot (they need to retain people thus giving more than usual RSUs). If you care about money, FANG jobs pay way better with a lot less risk.
Look at the growth potential of the company and weight it against your offered equity. If you think you the risk adjusted return at the startup is higher than at FANG, take the leap. But, there is risk but hey ..