Series A offer evaluation
Series A offer: Salary: $190k Equity: 0.2% at $75M valuation Series A company seems like a great culture fit. The business has strong cashflow and growth even in today's market. Their valuation is from 2 years ago and would certainly be quite a bit higher if they had to raise again today, maybe in the $150-200M range. Current TC: $700k/year at staff level (although I think our 409a is a bit inflated right now, so probably lower in reality). YOE: 8 I’ve been at Stripe >4y and have vested mid-7 figures in their paper money so 700k is less than what I made even a year ago. The startup offer feels a bit low to me but I'm new to the earl stage startup world so am looking for advice on what to counter with. #startup #equity #seriesa
What is the market for that paper money they are proposing you? You won't be even able to easy sell any of the vested equities. Ask them for a VP position and 5%
Can’t see any market for it in the next few years unless there’s an acquisition. Founders seem to be setting their eyes on an IPO in the long run though.
Offer is low on both base and equity, would want at least $200K and 0.3% What’s their runway if they haven’t raised in 2 years? Are they profitable? What’s strike price? DM if you have more questions
Thanks, that matches my gut for what the minimum should be. They are profitable with ARR doubling each year over the last few years, strike price is $1.25. Don’t want to share too many specific details publicly.
What is the base difference? How much paper money do you have with Stripe and how much would you be walking away from? Going from Stripe to a Series A is going to greatly delay a possible payout on the equity portion.
Roughly $300k of TC is cash. I passed 4 years at Stripe recently so I’m not too upset about walking at this point since I’ve vested a crap ton already relative to what’s left, and am not as pessimistic about Stripe IPOing as many others here.
Take it Stripe is RSUs?
Don’t do it, you have way more to loose than to gain if you are already at 700k/year. In 4 years you’ll have over 3m(interest included) with little risk. With the startup you might get considerably less but likely not much more best case. The startup IPO train left the station in 2021
Edited post to also add this, but I’ve been at Stripe >4y and have vested mid-7 figures in their paper money so 700k is less than what I made even a year ago.
This person is asking you generally why you should not join startups, w.r.t your offer, it is a good one.
Wait $150k paper equity over 4 years? Why are you even considering this?
I mean, that’s how this goes at seed/series A since the valuations aren’t huge enough for crazy TC. You gamble on that 10xing or whatever over the next several years as the company grows and succeeds. Only reason I’m considering is because I’m already a paper multi-millionaire through Stripe and this sounds fun and like the company may go somewhere. I don’t want to get totally stiffed for comp in the process though.
You need to get at least 1%. Don’t accept anything less. 2% would be fair.
offer is good
You’re the first positive response! What makes you say so?
the only way to judge an offer is against the median. at 2 years in, this is actually a B round company that just hasn’t closed yet. median offer is 185 and .13%
Decent offer, it is not low like a lot of people are saying here. Truth is, 90% of them have never made or had startup offers. They think that current startup money should be more than their FAANG offer because they are taking the "risk".
Thanks!
What would you suggest countering with?
That’s a really solid offer, and I currently work at a series A start up
This is higher than what your company offers for someone with my experience?
The base is pretty spot on after negotiating at mine but the equity is definitely higher on your offer
Not sure about the base, but you can negotiate the stock more. 0.2% vs 0.3% is actually 50% more or not. Push it to 0.3%, and I think that's within their range. 0.25% is still a good win for you.
https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/ Negotiate hard and make sure you’re ok with living off your base for many years! Most startups at this stage don’t have a protocol for comp adjustments or raises
Yeah, I’ve seen that site but the rows don’t have timestamps so I don’t know what’s recent and what’s ancient! My spouse is staff at a FAANG that pays well so we can definitely pay our bills.