

Ask HN: is this a fair offer? - cluelessdude

I received an offer and wanted to get the general public's opinion regarding it.<p>Background:
- Startup with 0 lines of code, 2 founders
- Raised stealth funding of 1-4 million USD
- Coding will start as soon as 2 devs are recruited
- Founders are taking a regular salary pretty much, maybe a bit less than average (from what I gather)
- The employee stock pool is 10%<p>Given the above, how fair is it that I was given an offer of 50% of my current pay for ~0.6-0.9% in options?
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maxdemarzi
Is your current pay average, or above average market rates?

How much did they actually raise? 1-4 million is a wide range for a 4 man
operation. Even at 1M, I don't see why they would only offer 50%, specially if
the founders are taking a regular salary.

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cluelessdude
My current pay is probably 10-15% above average. Funding is more to the 2-4
range. My main concern is whether the equity is within the "average" for first
developer on deck in a startup with VC money

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maxdemarzi
At market salaries average for a lead engineer is 0.5% to 1% at the Series A
point. Half-salary would demand more equity.

<http://venturehacks.com/articles/option-pool-shuffle#market>

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cluelessdude
thanks for the link. that table is 4 years old, is it still the average?

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pbreit
What role would you play? Most seed raises are in the $500k-$1m range these
days in which case the first handful of employees are expected to work for
about half salary, so that's not surprising. Except that you say they raised
upwards of $4m in which case salaries should be closer to market (but still
lower). If yours is a key role, .6% is too low. 1% or more might be right. But
it depends a lot on the importance of your role (engineer vs non-engineer,
role player vs manager/director). Is neither founder technical? Watch out.

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jbail
50% less seems low. Everything is a negotiation. Remember this. If you think
you're worth more (and you obviously are since you make 2x of that offer right
now), come back with a counter offer that's 50% more than what you currently
make. If they say they can't do that, then you can always counter back and
push for more options in exchange for less cash.

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DamnYuppie
Unless you are currently making really good money I wouldn't leave for 1/2 of
what you are making and less then 1% in equity.

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antoinevg
Going by what you've told us, I don't think "how fair is it" is the question
you should be asking yourself!

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DevX101
out of curiosity, how were the founders able to raise at this level with no
product? Did they have a pre-existing relationship with the financiers?

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dmlevi
Good question. I am interested in hearing how they pay themselves with no
product as well?

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bhousel
Depends, how good a programmer are you?

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NonEUCitizen
employee stock pool is a bit low -- should be 20% and up.

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garry
Not necessarily. Depends on hiring plans.

