hellfishburnsy

You said in your post you were paid competitive salary. Why is it 65% less now? What are you basing your salary on?

From what you've said, it sounds like the mathematical models play a pretty significant role. If the product is like Digg, then the algorithms are 90% of the company (in fact I think K. Rose outsourced the site). If the product is like Myspace, however, then your contribution will be the other way around.

In your situation, the best bet is to negotiate your equity compensation based on opportunity cost. I recommend getting the negotiation finalized before the company does find a hire, since this gives you more leverage. I say start with 3% and negotiate downward.

they are publishing anything that isn't depressing, and this is the best they can find.

lol

Long post. Suggest you cut it down and use a different title. The current title doesn't inspire people to click.

From what you've said so far, you are the first hire in a startup with a technical founder. There are factors that we're missing here like are you a full-time or part-time hire? What's the role of the mathematical models? How "replaceable" are you? Could the technical founder have done this without you, or with a different hire? How much of an impact will it be to the company if you walk away?

It's impossible for anyone to tell you how much is "fair" in your situation since every situation is different. But for what it's worth, 1%-3% with competitive salary is pretty good for a non-founding first hire in my experience. YMMV depending on how you answer the questions I mentioned above.

I think a good way to calculate equity compensation is via "opportunity cost". Will you be working for reduced salary after graduation for this startup? If you're going to be getting reduced salary, then the equity compensation should match the salary that you'll be missing out on.

Here are some old threads about this topic.

http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.416439.2... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=185882 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79952 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28465

That's pretty obvious. The barrier of entry for making a websites is pretty low, and getting lower. It's quite easy, for example, for someone to go to CNN to get news instead of Yahoo News. All that's required is a different url.

kind of long, but a good read. Thanks

choose something that sounds vaguely familiar to an existing term. And make sure there are very few Google search results for the name. A name with too many Google results means you have to really work on SEO to get decent ranking.

the 3D solar cell was invented at Georgetech a few years ago. The kid just happen to be getting hype because of his age...

http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/3d-solar.htm

Entertainment flourished. People needed a way to forget their troubles, even if it's temporary.

that app will be banned too then. Maybe if someone can hack Safari...

how about an increased risk for certain types of cancer that I otherwise wouldn't screen on a normal basis?

right. they can be cheery because they're Google...