

Ask HN: What am I (designer) worth to your startup [infographic] - ed209

This is an open question about the best way to approach startups I'd like to be part of and also what I can reasonably expect in salary/perks etc<p>With any young company the risks are higher. I'd love to be an investor and spread that risk over 5, 10, 15 or more smaller investments but as an early employee I have to go all-in.<p>As a result I want to mitigate some of that risk by letting actual investors do some of the risk assessment. Who and how much the startup has raised should be a good indication. Of course the down side is that there's probably less stock options left over if the round is big and the investors well known.<p>What I'd like to know is what sort of salary/stock options/perks should I expect/ask for in early stage companies? What is a fair and reasonable amount? I don't take asking for that lightly so it would be great to hear from any companies that have been in this position. What did you offer your first hires? Did they ask for it or did you offer it?<p>I understand it's a hard one to answer as there's a different value for every startup, but to help value my side of the equation I made a little info page about me<p>bit.ly/edlea-info<p>(p.s yes I'm looking :)
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staunch
I don't put much value in "designers" personally. I'm only interested in
people that can do all the front-end work: Javascript/HTML/CSS _and_ graphical
elements (logo, UI elements, etc).

A really good one is worth just as much as a good developer in my experience.

Here's a quite broad range: $60k-$120k salary and 0.25% - 2.00% equity (with
vesting) in a company that has raised some money. Heavier on salary and
lighter on equity as the company progresses.

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ed209
I see, so you prefer a designer who is also a programmer. Why not get one of
your programmers to do the front end _programming_ rather than a designer?

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suking
O boy, it's getting frothy when designers are looking for big $ in options...
(IMO).

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ed209
why? I guess it depends on the value you put on design...

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suking
Because I can go on 99designs and find a few designers to do work dirt cheap
and fast... elance for programming & complicated stuff... not so much. now i'd
pay more for someone in house and coming to the office no doubt... but giving
up any meaningful % of company to designer, no disrespect, but unlikely...
imho.

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lachyg
Man, you are so, so wrong. You should really learn to respect design so much
more. You'll get the same quality designers off 99Designs that you will coders
off eLance

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suking
100% false. Used both. Now all programmers are in-house and 1 designer in-
house (part-time), rest of design work outsourced. Not even close to the same
comparison.

