Re:Results of Joel Spolsky's "What Programmers Want" Survey
by nbclark on Thursday February 09, 2012 @11:02PM
(#3574447)
Yeah I agree. I would not sacrifice (much) salary for equity, but would certainly negotiate to have as much equity as I could. Regardless of how it all shakes out, I would like to think that I am somewhat vested in the eventual outcome of the company.
Re:Results of Joel Spolsky's "What Programmers Want" Survey
by michaelochurch on Friday February 10, 2012 @09:24AM
(#3575869)
I don't think anyone solid would take a sub-1% slice as Engineer #1. A pre-funding, pre-code startup is worth $4 million, tops (and that's generous). Vested over four years, that's not nearly enough to compensate for the lower compensation and higher risk of a business at that point.
Re:Results of Joel Spolsky's "What Programmers Want" Survey
by mjwalshe on Friday February 10, 2012 @04:20AM
(#3575096)
Well even big companies with bog standard share save schemes can be very lucative one of BT's 5 year scheams if maxed out would have netted you $70k (efectivly tax free) and that is the scheme open to every one.
Plus we use to get $400 or so of shares per year as profit share
1) Options offerings are typically a fraction of 1%: even for the first engineer at companies with no technical co-founders. This (I think) is a carry-over from the dot-com era where IPO exits came hot and heavy. These days, if you're lucky, you're looking at a low-7 to mid-8 figure exit. And to become fully vested, you're going to have to stick around for 3-4 years.
2) Even with a big successful exit, you never know if the company will pull a Skype/Zynga on you.
With that said, I wouldn't scoff at them, I just won't be weighting them heavily in compensation talks.