In final stages of interviewing for a senior IC role with a series B/C startup and the recruiter just scheduled me for an 'offer call'. Does anyone here have an idea of what these calls are like and how I can prepare going into it? The entire interview process so far was quite relaxed but the way this call has been set up makes it seem like it could be structured as a high pressure 'sales' type call. I like the company and the role and want to accept if the offer is reasonable but don't want to get fucked either... I feel like I need to have some strategy/numbers ready going into it to be able to negotiate. Suggestions appreciated! EDIT: Lots of people were triggered by the title of my post which previously read 'What the heck is an Offer Call?'. That title was optimized to get eyeballs on my post and my real question was obviously more nuanced. I have now updated the title to reflect this. EDIT 2: Thank you blind community for your valuable insights. I have a full weekend of reading and preparation ahead of me thanks to all your responses! I will update this post based on the outcome of my negotiation. #compensation #startups #seriesb #series #offer #negotiate #negotiateoffer #options #equity #startup
They are making you an offer. The recruiter will walk you through it on the phone to make sure you are ok with it, before they put it in writing for you.
So basically the call is the time to negotiate, right? Once it's in writing there's no changing the offer I'm guessing.
Exactly!
Not necessarily, but in general, yes, this is your time to negotiate. Ideally you'd want a competing offer, but barring that, just do what you can.
I never negotiate immediately on the offer call. 1. Gotta take some more time for me to speak with the team to get any questions I still have answered (my turn to interview them). This includes answers about the equity which sometimes the recruiter doesn't have accessible on the call and needs to go get. Also no reason for them to think they already have me sold right away. 2. Time to strategize. I have to see the offer to then go get market data that supports a higher offer and structure what I'm going to ask for and in what order and with what reasoning. 3. it takes them 2 seconds to update an offer - especially for startups that just use DocuSign. Recruiters have literally done it while on the phone with me during the negotiation call. Zero need to jump in and negotiate right away. To me it's a little eager beaver anyways.
Thanks that's super helpful! Can you point me to some resources you might use for this kind of secondary research (e.g. figuring out what you're worth, get market data etc)
Angel.co has equity data by role & geo & some other factors Levels, paysa, builtin/builtinsf/builtinnyc, blind, LinkedIn etc. Blind has the highest numbers in my experience. Your undergrad or grad school especially if they were private schools might have data There are also some articles from VCs in how much to pay people. I think Fred Wilson has one. I'll think on it a bit for who wrote good ones. You dont completely need data to justify a higher ask but it does help ground you into what average might be. So you don't accidentally ask for like 2% equity when that's absolutely ridiculous and you should be asking for $20k more base instead.
Listen more, show excitement and gratitude, don’t accept anything. Ask for some time. Come back to blind.
https://haseebq.com/my-ten-rules-for-negotiating-a-job-offer/ this has a good summary and tactics to deal with this call, I personally used let me think about this, discuss with spouse excuse to buy time and then go back and forth in future calls...as someone mentioned don't start negotiating in this call, take a day or 2 to reflect and analyse the numbers
Practice being professional and grateful, but not overly positive. They want YOU but you want them to think they need to raise their offer.
It’s literally in the name.
And he wants to be their latex saleman
TC should be in this post, I'm shocked no one is TC or GTFOing
🤣🤣🤣
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They are going to call you with a verbal offer. Be prepared to delay or haggle.
Any tips on how to haggle?
Know what you want, what you're worth, and why you're worth it. Have alternatives so you don't feel pressured to take any offer if they low ball you. Have a spreadsheet ready so you can compare things like equity value.