3 ms·

I don't think early AirBnB employees think their equity was a terrible deal. 0.01% of equity is now worth $9m.

ghouj 6y ago
Most companies aren’t Airbnb. But really my objection is that the company is “offering” you the opportunity to pay them to “buy” part of your TC.
TuringNYC 6y ago
If someone has a good way to find the next AirBnB, i would love to know. In the absence of that, from all the math I do, it seems the better thing is to work at a large tech firm, take the 40-60% pay increase and just invest that into the stock market or index options if you want massive leveraged upside.
joshuamorton 6y ago
And when did you need to join to get .01%? First 200 people? So 2011 or so?
- triceratops 6y ago
  Probably first 20 if you're a grunt. First 50 if you're management.
mancerayder 6y ago
How come in all the companies I worked for (in NY, not SV) I never ever was told what percentage of equity I had, and was just given a magic number. 25K units. 10K units. 100K units. Common shares. 4 year vest. I've had fairly senior roles so reading all the articles about how people can get screwed reminds me that I'm getting screwed, in a completely different way though and probably a lot more simple a way.
- ska 6y ago
  You should always ask, and they should always tell you. Depending on the position, you may also want a look at the cap table but more often just the summary or even current %age. Part of the reason people don't do this by default is that it's dynamic. I can promise you 100k shares today and that's what happens 3 mo from now when you start, but hiring anyone else (or you for that matter) will change the %age number. By the way, especially early on a primary reason you should ask isn't to value the equity but to get a better idea of how the offer values you....
  - aardvark291 6y ago
    > You should always ask, and they should always tell you. I'm currently on the job search. One of my offers was quite forthright and included the total number of outstanding shares and the fraction I would receive. But this seems very unusual. The others all treated this information as proprietary/confidential. They either provide an opaque "valuation" of the equity, or give the current strike price ("fair market value" according to 409a) and preferred price (implied valuation after most recent funding round), and strongly imply that the spread here implies that the options are already significantly in-the-money. Sometimes they just give the number of of options and their strike price.
    - ska 6y ago
      I've only once had someone offer this without asking, but always been given it when requested, in some useful form. YMMV of course, but feeling the need to be coy about the cap table with potential hires (within reason, and assuming relatively young startup) would be a bit of a red flag for me.

Most companies aren’t Airbnb. But really my objection is that the company is “offering” you the opportunity to pay them to “buy” part of your TC.

TuringNYC 6y ago

If someone has a good way to find the next AirBnB, i would love to know. In the absence of that, from all the math I do, it seems the better thing is to work at a large tech firm, take the 40-60% pay increase and just invest that into the stock market or index options if you want massive leveraged upside.

joshuamorton 6y ago

And when did you need to join to get .01%? First 200 people? So 2011 or so?

triceratops 6y ago
Probably first 20 if you're a grunt. First 50 if you're management.

mancerayder 6y ago

How come in all the companies I worked for (in NY, not SV) I never ever was told what percentage of equity I had, and was just given a magic number. 25K units. 10K units. 100K units. Common shares. 4 year vest. I've had fairly senior roles so reading all the articles about how people can get screwed reminds me that I'm getting screwed, in a completely different way though and probably a lot more simple a way.

ska 6y ago
You should always ask, and they should always tell you. Depending on the position, you may also want a look at the cap table but more often just the summary or even current %age. Part of the reason people don't do this by default is that it's dynamic. I can promise you 100k shares today and that's what happens 3 mo from now when you start, but hiring anyone else (or you for that matter) will change the %age number. By the way, especially early on a primary reason you should ask isn't to value the equity but to get a better idea of how the offer values you....
- aardvark291 6y ago
  > You should always ask, and they should always tell you. I'm currently on the job search. One of my offers was quite forthright and included the total number of outstanding shares and the fraction I would receive. But this seems very unusual. The others all treated this information as proprietary/confidential. They either provide an opaque "valuation" of the equity, or give the current strike price ("fair market value" according to 409a) and preferred price (implied valuation after most recent funding round), and strongly imply that the spread here implies that the options are already significantly in-the-money. Sometimes they just give the number of of options and their strike price.
  - ska 6y ago
    I've only once had someone offer this without asking, but always been given it when requested, in some useful form. YMMV of course, but feeling the need to be coy about the cap table with potential hires (within reason, and assuming relatively young startup) would be a bit of a red flag for me.