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In support of the article, and in contrast to the “assume equity is worthless” HN conventional wisdom, at my current job I’m vesting seven figures of equity eve
by throwawayeq2 8y ago
In support of the article, and in contrast to the “assume equity is worthless” HN conventional wisdom, at my current job I’m vesting seven figures of equity every year at our current valuation, and have been since the day I started. What worked for me in my latest job search was focusing on companies that had a very small headcount relative to their valuation, although there are other filters you can use like those Jessica mentioned.
The nice thing about working for a company that has raised a bunch of money but is still quite small is that you don’t necessarily have to sacrifice salary either. When I joined I got a 50% raise from my previous base salary at a big 5 tech co without negotiating.
- phamilton 8y agoLiquid equity?
- throwawayeq2 8y agoNope, illiquid, so it’s still something of a gamble (although in my opinion a much surer thing than the average startup). So the expected value is something less than the nominal figure, but still very large, with some variance. EDIT: I’ve also heard there’s a secondary market for private co equity that I could maybe use to liquidate early if necessary, but I don’t know where that stands legally and don’t even know who is talk to to figure out if that’s an option.
- equitylottery 8y agoI'm also rich on paper.
- throwawayeq2 8y agoBased on the details provided in your sibling comment, sounds like you aren’t? I don’t think our situations are the same.
- equitylottery 8y agoI started out with around 1% of a company that's now valued at a few 100 million dollars. I just don't see it going public and if we do get acquired I'm not sure I'll see much of it after the investors get paid.
- jiveturkey 8y agoyour company has to allow it.