I fully agree, I personally know a good number of people who did quite well for themselves taking a slightly lower offer at a fast growing startup than taking a

I fully agree, I personally know a good number of people who did quite well for themselves taking a slightly lower offer at a fast growing startup than taking a standard or above-average FAANG offer. The problem for a lot of people of course is how to value options/rsus, and that generally the fast growing companies that everyone is taking about are generally about as hard to get a job at as FLAG For example let’s say you can take $240k TC at a big tech company where your comp is fully liquid, but instead have the option to take $170k base+bonus at a startup worth $400mm with RSUs valued at $50k/year. It’s easy to say that those RSUs are worthless and just go with FANG, but there’s nothing wrong with taking a calculated risk for slightly lower short term liquid comp in exchange for equity in a company you believe has a strong chance at 10xing. The net result is that you are choosing slightly lower pay in exchange for access to a high-risk high-reward investment