What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

Re:What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your ... by adrianpike on Thursday October 03, 2019 @04:25PM (#21151748)

Strong disagree - you absolutely need to factor in liquidity effort alongside vesting schedule and face value for equity comp, and in general for most non-public companies that liquidity capability is zero.

- RSU's that I can only dump on a secondary market are worth a fraction of their face value. - Grants in a company that'll never have a liquidity event are worth a fraction of their face value. - Options in a public company are definitely worthwhile, but I shouldn't be negotiating their face value one-to-one with cash.

It's possible you've had a great outcome liquidating some equity from a private company, in which case I'm super stoked for you and that's a great outcome - but it's not the norm.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your ... by undefined3840 on Thursday October 03, 2019 @04:34PM (#21151876)

Yes, which is why you should be negotiating for more RSUs to compensate for the additional risk and illiquidity.

My point is that if you join a startup thinking your equity is and will forever be worthless, then why do you care if you get 10 or 10000 shares? To not care is bad advice for anyone joining a company that has a path toward IPO or acquisition. And if you don’t think a startup has any path then why are you joining a company that is offering you equity comp in the first place?

[ Parent | on HN ]