5 ms·
Ask HN: Thinking of leaving my startup
The situation: I'm currently working for a startup, $startup, in which I have a small, but nontrivial amount of stock (~ 1%, of which 40% is vested). I work for their Indian subsidiary, but have been wanting to move to California for a while now. I have recently got a pretty good offer from a large company, $co, in the Bay Area.
The dilemma:
- $co is somewhere I've always wanted to work at. I know that I will definitely enjoy both the work and the environment a lot more than I do in my current position.
- When $startup heard I was leaving, they offered to move me to their California office immediately, match and exceed $co's offer. This in and of itself would not get me to stay (they've been underpaying me and dragging their feet over my transfer, and the work environment is pretty bad), but
- The founder is doing his best to convince me that we have a significant probability of being acquired within the next 12 months, at which point having walked away from my unvested stock will prove to be a huge mistake, essentially throwing away my last 5 years of 60+ hour weeks. Particularly since I vest fully on acquisition, I could in theory stay the year at no real financial loss, and then go look for another job whatever happens.
I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who've been in a similar situation (though all advice is of course welcome). On the one hand, if I turn $co down, I might or might not ever get an offer from them again. In terms of my long-term career goals, they're definitely somewhere I'd love to work at. On the other hand, if we really are within a year of being acquired (and this is not a combination of optimism and salesmanship), the stock value represents more money than I'd make in the next decade. On the gripping hand, this is castles in the air, weighed against what is essentially a dream job.
So, thoughts? Advice? War stories?
- iamdave 16y agoWould you rather have money, or be happy?
- throwaway_alt 16y agoin the long term, definitely be happy. the dilemma is if i wait a year, i could potentially have money and be happy.
- bartonfink 16y agoIn a year, can you get an offer similar to or better than your current offer from $co?
- throwaway_alt 16y agoi can almost certainly get a better offer, but not necessarily in as good a company
- iamdave 16y agoYou don't sound miserable where you are, but if you have your sights and long-term personal and professional goals set elsewhere, why delay the opportunity and risk being in a place you want to be for a few more bucks? There's always going to be more money. There isn't always going to be the perfect job on a silver platter.
- throwaway_alt 16y agoyeah, that pretty much sums up my emotional response to the whole situation. i'm trying not to be too impulsive about this because of the sheer amounts involved (though as a friend of mine puts it, i've multiplied a real number by an imaginary one and am dazzled by the result)
- rdouble 16y agoThe big question is why are you only 40% vested after 5 years? You should have been fully vested a year ago.
- throwaway_alt 16y agoi was, we had to revest all founder's stock as a condition of the latest round of investment
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- tgrass 16y agoWhat is the least salary you would take to work at $co and for how long would you work there at that salary? What probability do you put on $startup being acquired? What is the least salary $startup could pay you to be satisfied with working there without the prospect of an acquisition?
- throwaway_alt 16y agothat's the rub - i'd be perfectly happy working at $co for what they've offered me, and getting a regular annual raise, and i wouldn't stay at $startup at all, without the prospect of an acquisition, even though they're (now) offering me a good bit more than $co. the probability of being acquired is essentially the carrot, and the founder talks as though it's practically a certainty, but he's the overoptimistic sort. the problem is that i pretty much have no insight into the business/financial aspect of things, and therefore have no real way of judging the probabilities myself. i'm actually not very motivated by money, but when the numbers get high enough they have a way of distorting reality around them.
- tgrass 16y agoWe may not be motivated by money, but we all have our price. Would you happily stay at $startup for $200K a year with a 0% chance of acquisition? How about $100K with a 50% chance of acquisition? Put some numbers to it and you might find you already know the answer.
- throwaway_alt 16y agotwo separate factors here - in isolation, i'd stay at $startup for $200k for another 1.5-2 years, with a 0% chance of acquisition in isolation, but not if it meant giving up a dream job with $co. i'd take a $30k difference in pay to join $co just because it's getting me on the right track for what i want to be doing with my life. and, of course, if we were definitely getting acquired i'd give up the job and stick around for the payoff (~ 2M with a little luck). it's when probabilities come into the mix that my head starts hurting - i think i don't really have the gambling instinct, and if i were deciding this on pure emotion i think i'd just leave, but i'm trying to do the intelligent thing here.
- kovar 16y agoThere are a lot of cliches which I think apply to your problem - "live for the moment" and "a bird in the hand ..." come to mind immediately. Stock options are great leverage for the company and worthless to the employee in cases such as yours. If you want to be in California and working for $co will make you happy, take it. Once you're here you can always find another $startup.
- throwaway_alt 16y agoyeah, very true. coming to the conclusion that a dream job is worth more than the potential millions to me.
- throwaway_alt 16y agofollowup: i've decided to accept the offer from $co and move on with my life. feeling a lot happier now that i've made the decision!
- tgrass 16y agoBest of luck.
- throwaway_alt 16y agothanks :)