7 ms·
> Invalid reasons for working at a startup: > - Making a lot of money in salary. Once a startup raises a series A is there actually any reason to pay below-mar
by ssalazar 8y ago
> Invalid reasons for working at a startup:
> - Making a lot of money in salary.
Once a startup raises a series A is there actually any reason to pay below-market?
Fresh out of college I was employee #1 at a startup that had funding, and was basically at the mythical "Google salary for new college graduate" figure that is thrown around here, and higher than competing offers from name brand tech cos.
- ummonk 8y agoEquity grants from public companies are pretty liquid and as good as salary.
- tomnipotent 8y agoYes, because startups are usually still cash poor after a Series A and you don't want to burn more than you need to. The whole point is to conserve cash until you can find more money or turn a profit, and employee salary is usually the largest cost for most companies.
- TuringNYC 8y ago>> Once a startup raises a series A is there actually any reason to pay below-market? Yes, because there is a greater fool competing with you who seems to thinking the theoretical value of their illiquid options is worth a trade-off for equivalent actual cash.
- phamilton 8y ago> is there actually any reason to pay below-market? "market" is a big chunk of change. "Google salary" is not market. It's closer to 50% of market. (GSUs and annual bonus are significant aspects of comp that are basically cash). "Netflix salary" is market, and for a series A company there are a lot of reasons not to pay senior engineers 300k+.