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To add to this, something that helped me accept this change: your acquisition marked the achievement of your startup goal. You're done now, you can now stop liv
by korijn 5y ago
To add to this, something that helped me accept this change: your acquisition marked the achievement of your startup goal. You're done now, you can now stop living for your work, and start working to live.
- yawnxyz 5y agoor pick up a new hobby that occupies the mind! Or start the next thing!
- altdataseller 5y agoI think OP was an employee at a startup got acquired. Which may or may not mean they got a huge financial windfall from it
- korijn 5y agoI get where you are coming from, but even if you don't get huge financial windfall, there is just no point in sacrificing yourself anymore. It's not going to make as big of a difference anymore.
- obstacle1 5y agoIf you don't get a huge financial windfall, there was never a point in sacrificing yourself.
- sillysaurusx 5y agoAnd the truth comes out. Unless you're employee ~3, you're probably not going to make a huge financial windfall. The only counterexample I've seen was from an employee who invested in startups themselves. (Apparently he even "investment sniped" one that later became a YC co, which I found pretty impressive.) Suffice to say, he knew how to play the game. I think lots of people work at startups because they like to work. There's nothing wrong with that. But don't be too surprised at the end of it when you walk with a total comp of less than you'd have made at $bigco. People work at $bigco for the money because it sucks -- that' why it pays $bigcash -- and OP's story shows the kind of pain you're avoiding by taking a pay cut. OP, I wish you all the best. If this is your first experience with a big company, well... Just know that it's far worse at big banks. :) You're lucky in that sense.
- jacobr1 5y agoThen this is the time that the OP needs to join a startup as founder or early employee and get meaningful equity in exchange.
- mike_d 5y agoYou mean in 5 years when they have saved up a nest egg using that stupid big company money and stock options that are actually worth something. When you win the lotto you don't toss away the ticket so you can play again. Even if OP didn't cash out founder style - they still get essentially a multi-year paid vacation.
- garmaine 5y agoI really doubt he saw a large compensation increase with the acquisition.
- ornornor 5y agoWhen $snallstartup I was an employee at got acquired by $hugemultinational, all we got was a big fat juicy 1000$ „bonus“, an attaboy, and those who had been grossly underpaid for years were brought up to market pay. And that’s it.
- garmaine 5y agoAnd "market pay" being HR's idea of the going rate, not what a good engineer with niche knowledge and startup experience could command at a big tech company.
- matwood 5y agoBingo. I've been through a similar situation, and what helped was realizing I 'won'. Unfortunately not a unicorn type win, but a win nonetheless. Relax, recharge, and then look for the next opportunity. I think a lot the advice in this thread about navigating large company politics is missing the point a bit. I've heard entrepreneurs and people who like to work at start ups describe they don't do so because they necessarily like to, but because they have to. They are either bad at, or can't/refuse to deal with large company politics so head in a different direction.