> When I'm looking for jobs, my main criteria is market cap / number of employees, and Tesla (as most startups/small companies) was very bad before the stock pr

> When I'm looking for jobs, my main criteria is market cap / number of employees, and Tesla (as most startups/small companies) was very bad before the stock price went up. Now with high stock prices Tesla can afford to pay market rates (even if it's in stock). All big companies grant stock based on monetary value at the time of the grant. If you join company X when their stock went up 2x, stock grant will be smaller 2x. You can get market rate, from historically underperforming company, only if you got grants that appreciated, don't expect grants to improve pay rate.