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I am shocked this is a question to be honest. If you are executive leadership you should have negotiated significant equity when you were hired. Downplaying ha

by throwaway2016a 4y ago

I am shocked this is a question to be honest. If you are executive leadership you should have negotiated significant equity when you were hired. Downplaying happens often but that usually is in the form of the CTO getting X shares and the CEO getting 4X not the CTO getting 0. Even if you are in an established company (think fortune 100) you should still be getting shares. At a small company it should be more. To put it from a business perspective, the C-Suite should be highly incentivizes to move the needle and to do that, their compensation needs to be tied at least partially to the company outcome. Even if you make market salary (which it sounds like you don't). With that said, if the company is established, has a product that is already built and is just in maintenance, or technical projects are not core to the company's business model that compensation goes down proportionate to the risk. If the company is already established the risk is lower for you. I've had this conversation with a lot of people and this is honestly the first time I've heard "zero" for a CxO positional. Perhaps you should ask yourself is your job role one that is strategic and your decisions make a long term impact on the company. If the answer is "no" you might actually just be a principal software engineer with a fancy job title. Edit: To add to that last part. And this will be tough to hear. The CTO is at least partially a business and political role. If you need to ask this question and you didn't negotiate equity, you may be punching above your weight class. Not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes that is an effective way to get ahead. But I would recommend taking some business and management classes if you haven't already.

NamelessCTO 4y ago
We are a tech company and there is no one else in the C-level with technical knowledge, meaning every tech decision is my decision.
- ozim 4y ago
  That does not make you C-level, sorry. That is reality - you are IT manager tops. It also won't make others who have shares in company to think twice to fire you if you stand up. They will expect to hire another sucker.
- throwaway2016a 4y ago
  As someone pointed out, every single tech decision for a grocery store is different than every single tech decision for a SaaS. But in any case, you should be negotiating equity. Full stop. Zero is too little. The correct amount is dependent on a bunch of factors I can't see. In negotiating you may want to consider performance based bonuses or a longer vesting schedule as ways to soften it to be more palatable to them. Make sure to also understand the difference between ISO and RSO options and also strike price before you start negotiating. Also, don't go into this particular negotiations unless you are prepared to leave (either voluntarily or by them pushing you out). It's not likely if you handle the negotiation well but something you need to be aware is a possibility. The decision to negotiate, or stay with the status quo, or just leave is a deeply personally one so I can't offer any advice there. Good luck. Edit: Not how I would have put it but the peer comment in this thread has a valid point: > It also won't make others who have shares in company to think twice to fire you if you stand up.

NamelessCTO 4y ago

We are a tech company and there is no one else in the C-level with technical knowledge, meaning every tech decision is my decision.

ozim 4y ago
That does not make you C-level, sorry. That is reality - you are IT manager tops. It also won't make others who have shares in company to think twice to fire you if you stand up. They will expect to hire another sucker.
throwaway2016a 4y ago
As someone pointed out, every single tech decision for a grocery store is different than every single tech decision for a SaaS. But in any case, you should be negotiating equity. Full stop. Zero is too little. The correct amount is dependent on a bunch of factors I can't see. In negotiating you may want to consider performance based bonuses or a longer vesting schedule as ways to soften it to be more palatable to them. Make sure to also understand the difference between ISO and RSO options and also strike price before you start negotiating. Also, don't go into this particular negotiations unless you are prepared to leave (either voluntarily or by them pushing you out). It's not likely if you handle the negotiation well but something you need to be aware is a possibility. The decision to negotiate, or stay with the status quo, or just leave is a deeply personally one so I can't offer any advice there. Good luck. Edit: Not how I would have put it but the peer comment in this thread has a valid point: > It also won't make others who have shares in company to think twice to fire you if you stand up.