Hey all! I have an offer for joining a Series C startup as a Data Scientist, working remotely (which I love!). Their annual revenue currently is $20mn, and the company is valued at ~$300mn. They've offered me $150k base + 20k options vested over 4 years, currently valued at $10. The strike price is $3, meaning at the current valuation, these options are worth $140k vested over 4 years. CTO said they don't plan on raising any more rounds and would like to grow organically. They are pretty open about the fact that most likely exit is acquisition. Background: Recent PhD grad in STEM from a state university, with a few first author publications in ML under my belt, and a few more in prep, conservatively 3 months away from submission. Dilemma: Even if the company gets valued at $1bn by say tripling it's revenue in the next 4 years before being acquired, my stock options will really only be worth ~$450k over 4 years. I feel this is not really that much, especially considering that it's still a startup, and this is a big IF. Then again, I'm not a CS or EE PhD, nor did I graduate from a Top 10 school. Not the strongest coder in the world (never have I LC'd!), and I suspect without putting in a solid few months of effort into learning data structures, algorithms, and grinding LC, I will likely not be able to pass the coding rounds of the big tech companies. I suppose then, to an exten, I also need to manage my expectations. Question: Should I accept it, or keep interviewing? Should I accept and quit after say 4 months with hopefully a better offer? Have second phone screen scheduled with Amazon and am waiting to hear from DE Shaw after filling in their screening document, and in the last 5 days have applied to ~5 companies (Series E+ and big tech) via referrals. To recap: Current TC: $0 (PhD grad, job hunting) yoe: 0 + 1 summer internship at a hedge fund Offered TC: $150k base + $35k worth of stock options at current valuation, per year for 4 years, in a Series C. #tech #startup #tc #newgrad #phd #phdsalary #machinelearning
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Those options are đ„ FANG will pay you much better without any risk
You canât grow organically after round c, they probably simply donât know what to expect 1-2 years from now and your startup is 5+ years away from the IPO or want to get acquired.
They almost def wanna get acquired; edited my comment.
I wouldnât do it personally. Little upside and growth potential. Join the growth. They might simply not be able to go public and pull all their eggs in one basket at this point. Sooner or later theyâll become more desperate. The company that is not growing and canât raise money soon starts having cash issues(bonuses promos, paying market salaries to get good talent), itâs a very high risk to take.
A Series C startup that goes from 300M to 1B in the next 4 years is NOT a good startup. A good public company can grow that fast. If you expect that it will grow to 1B in the next 1 year, then it will be more reasonable.
This, donât join a startup that plans âto slow downâ after round C, it probably means it can never become a unicorn or you need to wait for 10 years to get your 0.1% back(after dilution it will be worth around one million before taxes, if you are lucky)
hard pass
Which hedge fund?