I’m a new grad SWE who is talking to seed and Series A startups and am considering joining them over Nuro and big tech companies. What should be needed in order to make taking this risk worth it? The main startup I’m talking to is a Series A fintech startup with 20 employees. They raised a 35 mil Series A from top VCs and founders of top companies in fintech. They have a well known post-IPO company as a customer and some other customers that are Series B to post-IPO. The founders were within the first 30-35 employees of Robinhood. A lot of the engineers come from Robinhood as well. The main competitors are Stripe and Square. The core product the startup is building is similar to an existing product these companies have but I thought it was a really good sign that the startup managed to convert a well known post-IPO company that was previously using Stripe. I am ultimately interested in being a founder in the future, and I heard joining an early stage startup is the best way to set yourself up for this. However, obviously joining a startup that is this early is still very risky. What else should I ask to make sure that this place is worth taking a risk on? Based off what you’ve heard so far would you think the startup is worth joining?
Most likely it's not worth the risk. You wouldn't be able to convert stock options into real money for many years to come, but if you leave, it would be a headache to keep them. In terms of tech skills learning experience could also be questionable. But in terms of seeing the kitchen behind startup growth, it could be eye opening.
I did this when I graduated college OP. It was about 5 years ago. My question to you is what are your goals? If your goal is to make as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time startups no matter the pedigree are joined at significant financial risk compared to what you could have made at FAANG. I joined two startups that were had a lot of people who helped build dropbox. They both became unicorns. My money however is still tied up in both companies years later until they have an exit. So even if you get lucky like I have… you still may have an absurdly long payout. Please keep that in mind. That said, if you’re looking to become a better engineer and learn everything from the ground up getting far more responsibility than your ready for then joining an early stage start up is likely the right call. The important thing is to find a start up team that values mentorship and has excellent communication skills. Because the amount you’ll learn in a reasonably well run start up is leaps and bounds more than a poorly run chaotic one where no one communicates well. You want a team who views you as an asset and allows you to get your hands dirty with the code but also supports you and answers your questions. So talk to absolutely everyone you can on the team and pick their brains about general coding standards and mentorship opportunities. I’d say go for it and understand it’s not a way to get rich quick. It’s a way to rapidly learn as much as you can in the shortest period of time.
I was from FAANG and joined an early startup for the same reason. So far, it has been a good journey, but I have self doubts every now and then whether it is worth it.
What is your nuro offer like?
You can search for the details on Blind, but it’s 251k first year, 221k reoccurring. Of that, stock is 65k/year over 4 years the rest is base + bonus.
Did they allow for any negotiation? Also curious what team you matched with
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As a new grad, ask yourself this: Will I be learning a lot regardless of exit outcome? Will I have a base salary big enough to live on in case my paper money becomes worthless? Am I sure I am getting enough equity to make taking this risk worth it? If you answer “yes” to all of these then I say go for it!