This is the key. When I was interviewing, I had an offer of $150k + $20k stock, and another that was just straight $190k (these are fake numbers, but pretty clo

This is the key. When I was interviewing, I had an offer of $150k + $20k stock, and another that was just straight $190k (these are fake numbers, but pretty close.) I told the first company about the $190k offer, and they matched it by upping the stock to $35k, and I took that offer. Then the stock nearly-doubled in value over the first year. Now it's worth mentioning that the stock could have also gone down, and frankly I am extremely skeptical of my own ability to predict this. So I wouldn't say I selected this offer based on the potential upside of the stock. But still, it's a nice upside.