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I'm not sure how often this happens anymore and why is it even a problem. When ever I've talked with a startup, they always talk about salary and equity, they'r

by enra 13y ago

I'm not sure how often this happens anymore and why is it even a problem. When ever I've talked with a startup, they always talk about salary and equity, they're both part of the negotiation. They offer you a salary of X and equity of Y, and then you can say that you hoped more for Z for salary. Of course a startup with a million or two in a bank can't pay you like Facebook or Google could but they can give more equity than any of them. If your needs and the startups offer don't match, don't work there. (I guess it's mostly this even a possible problem in SF since most companies in other places or parts of the world, don't really give out equity for employees.)

Jemaclus 13y ago
In the last six months, I've gotten offers from four different startups in SF, each of which offered me a MUCH lower salary than what I make now with roughly the same equity. At least one of them got pissed off when I countered in the manner you suggested. Instead, they told me how dumb I was for not taking equity into account. Which of course I did, but when your equity is the same as the equity I already have, I don't really need to consider it, especially when, as other posters have pointed out, the EV of the equity is zero. And you're right: their needs and my needs didn't match, so I declined. That's just business. Nothing personal. :)