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In New York City I was just offered a job at a startup, as a senior engineer. The company is small (only 5 people) but they have many customers, they are profit

In New York City I was just offered a job at a startup, as a senior engineer. The company is small (only 5 people) but they have many customers, they are profitable, and it is fairly certain they are going to be successful. They had, for years, offered sysadmin services to companies in New York City, but during that time they built a meta-framework on top of Chef, a framework that allows the automation of a fantastic range of sysadmin tasks, and now they've built a GUI on top of it, so less talented people can do a wide range of tasks. They plan to grow for 5 years and then sell for something between $25 to $100 million, depending on how much growth they get. I was offered $90,000 and 1% of the company. This is a startup where the risks are fairly low, considering that they already have customers who love them, and they are cash flow positive, and they are growing quickly. For a risky startup, I would have asked for 4%.

socialist_coder 12y ago
$90k for a senior engineer in NYC is comical. I hope you countered or didn't take it. You can make 3x that amount at Bloomberg or somewhere similar.
- jim_greco 12y ago
  $90k is not good, especially for 1% in a 5 person firm. However, I wouldn't throw around numbers like $270k as if any developer off the street makes that in New York City. No firm, especially Bloomberg, is going to pay someone new to finance that.
ryandrake 12y ago
> it is fairly certain they are going to be successful Anyone here ever heard that one before?
ryanSrich 12y ago
$90k in NYC is a pittance. You can make that much as an Uber Driver [1]. Making any less than $200k in NYC pretty much guarantees roommates. If you're single, no kids, no plan to have kids, no plan to get married or aren't already married and have no student loans. Well then yeah, take the risk on half your worth. If not, I highly recommend looking into a reputable company with reputable market rate salaries. 1. http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-drivers-salary-90000-2014-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-drivers-salary-90000-201...
- gargarplex 12y ago
  I don't know if you're trolling, but it's not easy to find a $200k salary in NYC. Where are all of these companies with "reputable market rate salaries"? Can you name five of them? I'll apply today. http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/new-york-city-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM615_KO14,31.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/new-york-city-software-eng...
  - ryanSrich 12y ago
    No I'm not trolling. Glassdoor, angelist, etc. are poor indicators of compensation. You shouldn't base what you make from what someone else self-reports as their salary on the internet. But to address your point, here are a few that are approaching and or exceeding $200k in just salary (all exceed $200k after bonuses). - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Software-Engineer-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,30_IL.31,44_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Software-Engine... - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Sales-Manager-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,20_IL.21,34_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Sales-Manager-New-Yor... - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-IV-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,27_IL.28,41_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-IV-... - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Site-Reliability-Engineer-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,38_IL.39,52_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Site-Reliabilit... And those are just at Google. If you think those are high then I'd recommend checking out some of the financial giants employing quants on wall street.
    - gargarplex 12y ago
      Okay, so Google, and financial quant jobs that require a specialized degree.
    - army 12y ago
      Those are for the more senior engineer grades at Google - the average engineer isn't making that much.
- uptown 12y ago
busterarm 12y ago
This place isn't on 55th Street, is it?
kra34 12y ago
You're going to work for a company that built a framework on top of another framework, in an industry where framework life span is about 6 months and you don't see that as risky?
rcarrigan87 12y ago
1% (assuming no dilution) of $100M exit is $1M. Assuming you should be making around $200K for a senior position in NYC, subtract $90K and you're out $110K a year for your equity. Multiply 5 years till the exit and that's $550K you've forgone for your $1M exit. If you adjust for risk (i.e. the company doesn't sell for $100M or completely collapses) this is a terrible investment. If you were to take the $550K you would have made had your salary been in line and invested it in fairly safe vehicles you could come out just the same with much less risk.

socialist_coder 12y ago

$90k for a senior engineer in NYC is comical. I hope you countered or didn't take it. You can make 3x that amount at Bloomberg or somewhere similar.

jim_greco 12y ago
$90k is not good, especially for 1% in a 5 person firm. However, I wouldn't throw around numbers like $270k as if any developer off the street makes that in New York City. No firm, especially Bloomberg, is going to pay someone new to finance that.

ryandrake 12y ago

> it is fairly certain they are going to be successful Anyone here ever heard that one before?

ryanSrich 12y ago

$90k in NYC is a pittance. You can make that much as an Uber Driver [1]. Making any less than $200k in NYC pretty much guarantees roommates. If you're single, no kids, no plan to have kids, no plan to get married or aren't already married and have no student loans. Well then yeah, take the risk on half your worth. If not, I highly recommend looking into a reputable company with reputable market rate salaries. 1. http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-drivers-salary-90000-2014-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-drivers-salary-90000-201...

gargarplex 12y ago
I don't know if you're trolling, but it's not easy to find a $200k salary in NYC. Where are all of these companies with "reputable market rate salaries"? Can you name five of them? I'll apply today. http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/new-york-city-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM615_KO14,31.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/new-york-city-software-eng...
- ryanSrich 12y ago
  No I'm not trolling. Glassdoor, angelist, etc. are poor indicators of compensation. You shouldn't base what you make from what someone else self-reports as their salary on the internet. But to address your point, here are a few that are approaching and or exceeding $200k in just salary (all exceed $200k after bonuses). - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Software-Engineer-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,30_IL.31,44_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Software-Engine... - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Sales-Manager-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,20_IL.21,34_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Sales-Manager-New-Yor... - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-IV-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,27_IL.28,41_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-IV-... - http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Site-Reliability-Engineer-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,38_IL.39,52_IM615.htm http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Site-Reliabilit... And those are just at Google. If you think those are high then I'd recommend checking out some of the financial giants employing quants on wall street.
  - gargarplex 12y ago
    Okay, so Google, and financial quant jobs that require a specialized degree.
  - army 12y ago
    Those are for the more senior engineer grades at Google - the average engineer isn't making that much.
uptown 12y ago

busterarm 12y ago

This place isn't on 55th Street, is it?

kra34 12y ago

You're going to work for a company that built a framework on top of another framework, in an industry where framework life span is about 6 months and you don't see that as risky?

rcarrigan87 12y ago

1% (assuming no dilution) of $100M exit is $1M. Assuming you should be making around $200K for a senior position in NYC, subtract $90K and you're out $110K a year for your equity. Multiply 5 years till the exit and that's $550K you've forgone for your $1M exit. If you adjust for risk (i.e. the company doesn't sell for $100M or completely collapses) this is a terrible investment. If you were to take the $550K you would have made had your salary been in line and invested it in fairly safe vehicles you could come out just the same with much less risk.