4 ms·

I joined a company in the summer of 2011 that IPOed in the spring of 2012. Company was under 400 employees at the time (I was around #~380). The company is not

I joined a company in the summer of 2011 that IPOed in the spring of 2012. Company was under 400 employees at the time (I was around #~380). The company is not Facebook or Twitter. My pre-IPO grants alone were worth over 1.5M, and my subsequent RSU grants probably added another 1M on top of that. I'm using a throwaway account for obvious reasons, but happy to answer any questions. I definitely was not an outlier in terms of the payout.

goblueandgold 12y ago
What level did you join? IC (Dev, Prod), Management, Sr Management?
- employee_equity 12y ago
  IC in Development, not a "senior" at that point. I'll also add that I was given a competitive salary as well (120K/year with around 15% bonus target) for my location.
jyu 12y ago
What types of positions offer large pre-IPO grants? How were you hired? (referral from friend already working there or were you headhunted or what?) Were you aware of the IPO plans before applying, and is this the sort of strategy that is repeatable?
- employee_equity 12y ago
  I was just an individual contributor dev. I was hired as a referral, though other folks we hired, even after me but before the IPO made out well. I was aware of the IPO plans, though the price I was given was about 3x less than what it ended up getting to after the IPO, and it's now 6x less. In that sense, I was extremely lucky - if it had been at the original price and stayed there, I don't think it would have been more than 500K. Repeatable? Probably not, just given the luck involved. However, I think the payout I was likely to get (200k-500k) was much more likely than getting the same payout from a real startup.
  - jyu 12y ago
    The strategy being looking for pre-IPO companies that plan to IPO within 1 to 2 years. Targeting these types of companies allows you to get market compensation with quite reasonable upside potential and seems a lot better risk/reward profile than joining a "real" startup.
    - employee_equity 12y ago
      The main question to me is how generous the company is with its grants. I feel like mine was very generous pre-IPO, as they pursued a retention strategy (not wanting the typical exodus of folks when the lock up expires). However, if a company is not generous, it's likely not a viable strategy. My strong belief is that you should go work somewhere that you enjoy the work, the people and you feel like you are being compensated appropriately. Getting "rich" is pretty much pure "luck", IMO.
Eridrus 12y ago
I'm not sure if this question is really applicable since you weren't there for very long before the IPO, but do you know what the Series A -> IPO dilution of shares looked like?
- employee_equity 12y ago
  I don't, unfortunately. The company had three series (A, B and C). Anecdotally I know that the company was not super generous with early employees. Part of what it did prior to IPO was to do a couple of refreshes to make sure people had a reason to stay (and they were extremely successful in this, we've had very little turnover).

goblueandgold 12y ago

What level did you join? IC (Dev, Prod), Management, Sr Management?

employee_equity 12y ago
IC in Development, not a "senior" at that point. I'll also add that I was given a competitive salary as well (120K/year with around 15% bonus target) for my location.

jyu 12y ago

What types of positions offer large pre-IPO grants? How were you hired? (referral from friend already working there or were you headhunted or what?) Were you aware of the IPO plans before applying, and is this the sort of strategy that is repeatable?

employee_equity 12y ago
I was just an individual contributor dev. I was hired as a referral, though other folks we hired, even after me but before the IPO made out well. I was aware of the IPO plans, though the price I was given was about 3x less than what it ended up getting to after the IPO, and it's now 6x less. In that sense, I was extremely lucky - if it had been at the original price and stayed there, I don't think it would have been more than 500K. Repeatable? Probably not, just given the luck involved. However, I think the payout I was likely to get (200k-500k) was much more likely than getting the same payout from a real startup.
- jyu 12y ago
  The strategy being looking for pre-IPO companies that plan to IPO within 1 to 2 years. Targeting these types of companies allows you to get market compensation with quite reasonable upside potential and seems a lot better risk/reward profile than joining a "real" startup.
  - employee_equity 12y ago
    The main question to me is how generous the company is with its grants. I feel like mine was very generous pre-IPO, as they pursued a retention strategy (not wanting the typical exodus of folks when the lock up expires). However, if a company is not generous, it's likely not a viable strategy. My strong belief is that you should go work somewhere that you enjoy the work, the people and you feel like you are being compensated appropriately. Getting "rich" is pretty much pure "luck", IMO.

Eridrus 12y ago

I'm not sure if this question is really applicable since you weren't there for very long before the IPO, but do you know what the Series A -> IPO dilution of shares looked like?

employee_equity 12y ago
I don't, unfortunately. The company had three series (A, B and C). Anecdotally I know that the company was not super generous with early employees. Part of what it did prior to IPO was to do a couple of refreshes to make sure people had a reason to stay (and they were extremely successful in this, we've had very little turnover).