salary, stock-optionsI’m on the prowl for a new job and am expecting several offers in the coming weeks (hence the throaway). I’d like to get a firm grasp on what to expect for equity. My role would be senior engineer, tech lead, or engineering manager. I’m currently a top performer at a well-known start-up, have a good resume, and interview really well.
Besides some limited feedback from peers, most of what I have to go off regarding equity is here:
https://www.wealthfront.com/tools/startup-salary-equity-compensation
Unfortunately this data is segmented by company size as opposed to company valuation (or FMV) at the time of grant. Ideally, I’d like to get some idea of what a good “dollar value” equity offering might be, if you compute “dollar value” as:
dollar value = #options (in basis points) * current best valuation (_not_ FMV)
For example, 50,000 options out of 100,000,000 total issued would be 5 basis points. If the company’s current valuation (not FMV) is $150m, that’d be $75,000 in “dollar value”. I think putting options in these terms makes the most sense, as it becomes easy to value them against the company’s growth. In the above case, if the company quadruples, I stand to gain about 4 x $75,000 (minus price to exercise). I’m very familiar with how options work, FMV vs actual valuation, strike price, vesting, etc… no help needed there.
Just looking for some data points about how much “dollar value” in equity companies are offering, and can be negotiated for, nowadays. For example, how many RSUs are Google and FB giving out? How about start-ups? How much will it vary with company stage (seems like it should remain roughly constant)?
Thanks.
I don’t think the data on that site is accurate and it might be because they have only sampled a few companies. In which case it would not show a good industry average.
You might get more accurate readings on glassdoor.com or payscale.com . Conventionally startups are supposed to offer lower wages than established companies because they are low on cash. Which is why they try to include stock options in the benefits package. The % of stock you can get depends on the position, experience etc and how much you can negotiate. This is regardless of whether its a startup or an established company. A startup can offer more flexible vesting and a larger percent than an established company in lieu of an average wage. Conversely, a startup can try to woo an established high valued developer from an established company by offering a higher than average salary but this is rare and not the norm.
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