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Just on paper, hands down Startup A. Smaller company means usually less politics. More cash (even when taking in consideration the lack of signing bonus and h

Just on paper, hands down Startup A. Smaller company means usually less politics. More cash (even when taking in consideration the lack of signing bonus and higher health insurance). Difference in stock options doesn't override it. You have to multiply the potential gain against the odds of you actually making that gain. Let's say you have a 1:1000 chance to make a 1000x gain. The difference in stock options is then worth ~20K. As long as you plan to work at the company for more than a year or two, then you will come out ahead with the higher salary -- especially since in a smaller company you are more likely to have seniority. Of course, this isn't a question you should probably be asking the internet. My values are not yours. If you end up losing out on $20 million because you followed my advice, then you will hate me forever. So do what you want.

bb88 8y ago
> Smaller company means usually less politics. In my experience this was completely untrue. Stable companies are stable for a reason. They've figured out their path to profit and churn on making deliverables. It doesn't matter so much on size, per se, but it does matter that the profit has stabilized. And you're much more likely to find that in larger companies, frankly, because they're large for a reason. In a small company, typically, the path to sustained profit is unknown and variable. Today you're the founder's best friend because you can crank out ruby code like there's no tomorrow. And then tomorrow shows up and you're out, because some influencer that the founder listens to told him that Node.JS is the future is Ruby on Rails is old hat.