Got an offer from a series A enterprise startup. They are valued at $85M and raised $15M as part of series A. They had raised $3M as part of their seed. Less than 10 employees currently. First time entrepreneurs. Grade 1 investors. Base: 185k Equity: 0.8% options Sign-on: TBD Current TC - 270k Yoe- 5.5 Edit: There is room for negotiations what should I ask for? Game plan: learn how start ups work at such a low level gain experience and start something of my own in the next few years. Negotiated offer: Base : 200k Equity: 1% over 5
unless you are very close to someone in the startup or you have high confidence/passion for the product, i would avoid. you will most likely not realize your equity and will be able to get better comp elsewhere
Stock options or RSUs?
Options
This is a massive paycut. Might as well treat series A equity like it doesn’t exist.
Agreed. But the learnings + passion compensates for the paycut?
It is not a pay cut in expected value
Depends on the CEO and the investors. Are they the top? I won't join series A unless leadership is a team of superstars.
New CEO, solid investors
Get more equity since you'll be worked like a founder without founder upside And ask if you can partially liquidate in the B
1%? Don’t think can get more than that.
200base 1% equity over four years comes out to about 400k TC if the strike is negligible Pretty good
Solid offer, but ideal would be $200K in salary and that equity. That would make it top of market pay You can see some examples here: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/?team=Engineering&stage=Series+A
Will try to get it to that base! Thanks :)
Hardware?
Software
0.8% is a butt ton of equity, depending how you see their prospects. The company could have a much less than unicorn exit after dilution and you could still get a handsome payout. Depends on your risk appetite and your assessment of the company’s prospects.
I like the prospect already have few companies and revenue.
Odds of you ever liquidating that equity is quite slim at series A.
20% chance to be precise. At this point I am thinking more about the experience that I will never get in a big company.
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Why? Are you financially independent? What’s your game plan when the startup fails to achieve a Series B, which is the most likely outcome?