how do you evaluate RSU from private company?

Google
yoos

Go to company page Google

yoos
Oct 29, 2016 22 Comments

How do you evaluate RSU from private company? I equate $1 to $.5 of Google stock, due to illiquidity and risk. But with this formula none of the private companies (e.g. Uber, Lyft) are able to match my Google package. And with this formula, I don't see any financial reason to leave Google. What kind of offer made you move from public company to private one?

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TOP 22 Comments
  • Uber
    Abcdeee

    Go to company page Uber

    Abcdeee
    I see people left Google/Facebook for Uber, and then rejoined.
    Oct 29, 2016 0
  • Obviously the expected value can't possibly be the same since you have much more upside.
    Oct 29, 2016 7
    • Google
      yoos

      Go to company page Google

      yoos
      OP
      You can find team and product you like even in big companies. All the teams I worked in Google are/were developing v0 products and you have decent (probably not as high as in a smaller company) chance of making big impact.
      Oct 29, 2016
    • Uber
      Container

      Go to company page Uber

      Container
      Sure - there are pros and cons to both situations. I got lucky at a past startup and made much more than I would've at a big co. And only small % of big co employees actually work on big impact projects
      Oct 29, 2016
  • Uber
    Performer

    Go to company page Uber

    Performer
    Our recruiters usually share an excell sheet with the candidates showing how much their cut would make when we are going IPO at 400bn. The pitch is somewhere between the lines of getting in at 62.5bn and making 6x within few years. A lot of folks seem to buy it.
    There is also a trillion $ version of that story, that's usually pulled against recent grads
    Oct 29, 2016 1
  • Google
    hqqqqq

    Go to company page Google

    hqqqqq
    OP, it's hard to match Google's total compensation. If you approach startups looking for that kind of upside, I'm afraid there won't be much unless you are going in at leadership level - which would mean you are taking on considerable risk.

    Well funded startups can't offer 1 employee hundreds of thousands in options, unless they are like Uber a year or two ago. Their valuation was so high, they can afford to toss around massive options that could be worth millions.

    For the rest of the valley startups, they'll sometimes throw serious money if a candidate is a game changer to their growth, but as soon as you said well funded, my guess is 30~50% drop in RSU/Options and probably a lower base salary.
    Oct 29, 2016 0
  • Google
    yoos

    Go to company page Google

    yoos
    OP
    maybe startup thing is not for me: to get a paycut so that I get a chance to work more & harder .
    Oct 29, 2016 4
    • Uber
      Performer

      Go to company page Uber

      Performer
      Sometimes bad experiences are much more valuable than the good ones.
      Oct 29, 2016
    • VMware
      UMWv70

      Go to company page VMware

      UMWv70
      Uber really shouldn't be considered a startup in this sense. It is already too big and you will still be pigeonholed into specific tasks. If you join a company with 10 people, you might have to do eng+devops+pm+pmm+sales+support+janitor+manage your team's budget etc and have the title of VP. 5 years from now if the company grows, you can still be VP, compared to Google, where you may have learned some new language/etc but are still an ic engineer without the other experiences.
      Oct 30, 2016