Stripe's arrogant compensation philosophy is misleading
I said no to Stripe's offer a few months ago(not sharing exact timeline to prevent DOXing), joining Google now. Laying down some facts here so people dont get swayed by the high base which was the only high point of my offer.
Stripe has no annual refreshers, recruiters will misleadingly show on--hire grants as annual grants, unlike annual refreshers, they are not in addition to onhire grants and dont even appreciate, a true double whammy. Stripe does have language about refreshers for top performers but on target annual refreshers are zero. Only so called top performers will receive annual grants.
High number of DMEs, the recruiter did not tell me anything about the ratios even when i asked them but a hiring manager told me around 10% of their team is to be rated low performance. Nervous smiles when asked about WLB on teams.
Stripe does not do yearly adjustments to salary. Even Microsoft gives a cost of living increase per year. Stripe has no provision for that.
Bullshit no-negotiation image. Stripe tries to put forward a no negotiation image. Its just BS. I was able to negotiate but even though the offer looked good initially with a very high base salary, when i ran the numbers with Google refreshers, Google overtook in year 3.
RSU policy - the less said, better it is. Hiring manager struggled to explain the philosophy. From fair compensation to preventing rest and vest attitude.
I wish i had done the math earlier and asked for an even higher number, if you have a Stripe offer, do the math before accepting. For the uncertainty around jobs and IPO, do negotiate hard and don't look at only year 1 compensation. #stripe
I did genuinely enjoy talking to everyone during my interviews but if they want to hire the best, they need to compete with Google and Meta. With their new RSU policy, they have significantly limited any IPO upside so why choose them over Google and Meta which over a 4yr period will probably give better appreciation.
comments
For me, if I’m going to spend 40+ hours a week on something, I’d rather pick an activity that is least annoying. What makes a job annoying? Colleagues I can’t trust, colleagues who are there just to rest & vest, colleagues who joined by gaming an arbitrary and capricious hiring process. All of those things annoy me.
Stripe tends to attract incredibly smart people. Every day I suffer from impostor syndrome, but I truly enjoy working with these people. You’re right, the paper money is probably bullshit, but I make enough cash at Stripe.
Every company has problems, and Stripe is no exception. My coworkers more than make up for any pain.
I am working at Stripe now. Was at Microsoft before.