Startup Job Tradeoffs

Startup pros:* great people, unique culture* influence a wide range of issues from tech to office location* great experience for founding a company laterNote that I didn't include "huge potential financial gain" in that list. A non-founder at a startup really has to value the experience because most likely there won't be a huge financial win. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to negotiate a fair compensation package, but really you are using the opportunity to gain skills and

The upside to employees is very limited , that is the point of the post.the upside will be low unless you join very early stage and get decent amount of equity or join as a founding engineer or the company you join becomes valued at 10s of billions which is of course rare otherwise there is very little upside.Almost always FANNG level companies will pay you close or better what you would make best case in most startups with much less risk and far better work life balance.The reasons I h

Yes this is one of the main reasons why I am not working for a startup currently even after running my own startup for 2 years and having loved the experience. Over the course of interviewing with multiple startups and getting offers the amount of equity being offered was so little that the companies would have to hit ~250 Million valuations for the options to be worth in the mid 5 digits. From my perpective the risk-reward ratio for the first 10 engineers is much much worse than that for the fo

I'm going to keep repeating this comment until the world hears it--I think most people joining startups are being taken advantage of without realizing it. Sorry to be repeating myself:If you're primarily interested in making money, or if you love the startup but not the compensation, you should NOT work at that startup.If you're a good developer, you can get a better deal by working at an established company and simply investing. This has been true for every startup offer I&

It often makes sense to delay gratification. Like working with someone who is very well known in the field for little pay, knowing that their backing will give you many more opportunities in the future than a job that pays more now. Same is true of many startups. You make less than you would working for a FAANG company, but the experience and social connections can be worth far more in the future. It's definitely a personal decision

By my experience (I've gotten job offers from a few startups), most startups (especially after their series A) offer employees (at least engineers) a miniscule amount of equity (a small fraction of a percent). Even if these companies would have great exits (tens of millions), their engineers would hardly get enough for a down payment on a house in the Bay Area.Summary: don't expect the equity you get from working at a startup (unless you're a VP or an executive) to be worth much. Google-like

There's no problem either way. If you want that big paycheck, enjoy ad tech or high-frequency trading. I'm not judging you. But if you come into a start-up, both the founder and the employee should be clear that more money can be made elsewhere. The start-up is for someone who wants that romantic lifestyle. They still will earn plenty of money, but no, it won't be as much as you'll make at [insert-huge-company-here], and that's OK.It sounds like Box dude from the sto

Apart from founders and very early employees, people used to take a chance in small startups due to the prospect of their RSU/options being worth a ton down the line. Nowadays, though, VC ownership in these companies is getting so large that very little is left for founders themselves, let alone employee number 50. Makes zero sense not to take a guaranteed $500K at Google or Facebook over a tiny chance at $500K at a startup.

It seems like you are very interested in the making money aspect of a startup, from that view point, it doesn't make sense to leave 1 mm on the table to have a slim chance at a big payoff. IMO people who work at startups are either people who are extremely passionate about their work or people who couldn't make it into big tech companies.

Maybe not life-ruining risk, but YC offers a measly 120k in funding for your entire startup and G/FB/NFLX will pay you 350k per person per year for a senior engineer. Founding and joining startups entails a massive opportunity cost from what you can make at the top paying public companies.