Would you say most engineers are used to discussing compensation in annual terms, while buyouts are usually computed in forward-projected earnings terms, anywhe

Would you say most engineers are used to discussing compensation in annual terms, while buyouts are usually computed in forward-projected earnings terms, anywhere from 3-8 years for most small buyouts depending upon various factors? If so, then a $2-5M per head figure works out to $667K-1.67M per engineer per year for a 3-year projection, and $1.67M-625K per engineer per year for an 8-year projection. Even factoring in the overhead costs (an additional 50-100% bump to the annual figure), that is still a healthy amount of surplus capital in the picture that engineers should keep in mind when getting recruited, and should be negotiating for in prudently-structured stock grant terms if not in cash. So it isn't $acquihire_price_per_engineer - ( $my_annual_compensation_pkg + $overhead ) = OMFG!, but it still pencils out to a healthy amount per year anyone who is a principal contributor should be aware of.