Uber vs Lyft vs FB?
Both Lyft and Uber gives twice as much as equity than FB, but FB has a huge sign on. 3 years of experience, almost same level for three companies. Probably it has more opportunities and growth in Uber and Lyft, but more risks as well.
Share with us how much. Softbank is investing heavily into Uber
At a hugely discounted rate
Newsflash: They aren’t even thinking about investing in Lyft, and even if they did, they would discount Lyft more than us. They are able to ask for that discount because they have leverage and they would have more leverage over Lyft than Uber. Their threats of investing in Lyft if we don’t accept the lower price is their leverage.
I usually recommend 1.5x more equity compared to FANG so if you are getting 2x, come join Uber! Lyft is also a great company but assuming you are an engineer, you won't have the same challenges there as compared to Uber given the global scale of our operations.
But Lyft will eventually go global too and will have the same problems. Is it better to work on solving those problems or join a company that has already solved them ?
At Lyft we don't have any challenges. Just because we are smaller than Uber we don't even have any problems to solve. Uber did the hard work of solving those problems for us 🙄
If equity is 2x then joining Uber is an easy choice. I would usually consider 30%-40% more equity at Uber than FANG as equal offer. Uber is a great place to work, lots of good talent, good problems, lot of excitement. Would recommend it. Lyft is doing well this year mostly due to Ubers bad press this year but that will change in the coming months, it's already happening.
Our market share is still growing...
Really depends on the market value used to calculate that offer :) Uber and Lyft are both gamble (losing fair amount of money), but there is a chance you get to still make money of IPO (see Snapchat folks who were quick to sell at 6 months mark). At your stage of the career, I would focus more on what you want to learn and which problems you want to work on vs compensation. If you were new grad - I would say go to FB and don’t think twice. You are right on the inflection point where for some set of preferences either Uber or Lyft might make sense
I had similar choice (left FB, interviewed at Lyft and Uber). I’ll say this on Uber vs FB. Uber already had their culture crisis. As a result we doubled down on manager training, thought long and hard about the organization, the perf process, D&I etc. We know that we are far from perfect but we are also acutely aware. At FB in comparison the general sentiment was that we were all heroes saints and prophets, but above public scrutiny. FB also felt too big for me to feel my impact and I left when it was a fraction of what it is today. Can’t talk much about Lyft. Some of my friends there are happy, others are miserable (also true of both FB and Uber). I’d still do the same choice today. Trying to rebuild Uber into a tech company I am proud of has been my most exciting job in tech.
Uber/Lyft equity may worth 2 or 10 times less than it’s estimated now after they go public. If they go public. And Facebook RSUs are liquid. So be very careful comparing equity of public and private companies.
Lol (2 or 10 times less than current worth ?) Did you mean to say "more"
It may be more as well, it’s a gamble