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> Even the founder probably got less than a mid/senior level FAANG employee would get (and the FAANG employee had no risk) Not really... he's been working on t

> Even the founder probably got less than a mid/senior level FAANG employee would get (and the FAANG employee had no risk) Not really... he's been working on the startup for 7 years. Let's assume he had an average salary of 150K during those years. Plus he got $3.7M on the acquisition (it's not clear from his post if that's what he takes home or if it's pre-tax). That's 4.75M. Now let's assume a senior engineer in FAANG with a an average salary of $350K for 7 years. That's 2.45M. That's a very rough comparison and not taking into account taxes (the FAANG engineer is likely to pay more money in taxes overall). But the bigger difference is how he spent those 7 years. He spent it building and managing his own company with all the freedom in the world. Compare that to a senior engineer in FAANG... Update: someone in the comments mentioned he'll likely not need to pay any federal tax on the acquisition money. That makes a huge difference and the take home gap is much larger than my initial estimate.

humanlion87 6y ago
All the freedom in the world, and all the responsibility in the world too. The constant pressure to make the correct decisions for over 7 years would definitely be worth a 2x multiplier at least right?
- tinyhouse 6y ago
  It's definitely worth the multiplier. But that's not the right question imo. The question is if his well being was affected by that responsibility. From his post I didn't get the impression he was under a lot of pressure (unlike a senior FAANG engineer...). He worked hard of course but that doesn't mean he suffered. He just lost interest. I'm not saying running a company is not stressful. Of course it is. Even is it's yours and no one can fire you. But it's very different when you're the one who is making the decisions and not depending on other people and politics.

humanlion87 6y ago

All the freedom in the world, and all the responsibility in the world too. The constant pressure to make the correct decisions for over 7 years would definitely be worth a 2x multiplier at least right?

tinyhouse 6y ago
It's definitely worth the multiplier. But that's not the right question imo. The question is if his well being was affected by that responsibility. From his post I didn't get the impression he was under a lot of pressure (unlike a senior FAANG engineer...). He worked hard of course but that doesn't mean he suffered. He just lost interest. I'm not saying running a company is not stressful. Of course it is. Even is it's yours and no one can fire you. But it's very different when you're the one who is making the decisions and not depending on other people and politics.