

Typical compensation for seed-stage employee? - Doughbot

Hi,<p>I&#x27;m having a lot of trouble finding info on what&#x27;s reasonable for a very early, seed-stage employee in terms of compensation.<p>The company is currently just starting to raise seed money (currently at &lt;$100k), but has good prospects IMO. There is also no product or anything, just an idea and a rough prototype.<p>I am moderately accomplished in my field (non-technical with a master&#x27;s degree), but have no startup experience. They&#x27;re offering 10% (two co-founders each get 35%), and everyone would take $2k&#x2F;mo in living expenses (founders included, &lt;1&#x2F;3 my current salary).<p>The founders haven&#x27;t founded companies before but know their industry well, they&#x27;re basically the ones who know what we&#x27;re doing in terms of programming, marketing, fundraising - I&#x27;d be the &quot;everything else&quot; of the outfit and also help with the marketing&#x2F;fundraising.<p>Because I&#x27;m being brought in so early, I&#x27;m having a lot of trouble figuring out what&#x27;s normal. Am I being brought in in MUCH earlier than a normal employee, or only a little earlier?<p>I&#x27;d probably still even do it for the experience (good friends, good city), but I want to come in with eyes open.<p>Thanks!
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smegmalife
This is much earlier than a normal employee. I'd say this is about right,
although you should be considered a founding team member and not an employee.

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Doughbot
Thanks so much! So apart from the issue of founder v. employee, you think this
is a reasonable situation? I think the founders are happy to bring me in
because I'm generally competent/capable (and we've been friends for 10-15
years, they know I'm reliable), but again, they are the ones with all the
industry knowledge.

I've had some people pressing me to push for founder status, but I think
that's a bit much.

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mswen
The offer is clearly more like a founder in that you are agreeing to a
significantly below market salary in exchange for a pretty sizable chunk of
equity. So whether the "title" of co-founder is given or not, they are
treating it more like a minor partner/founder.

Given that this offer is equity heavy - you should understand things like
vesting schedule, and dilution when additional investment comes in.

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Doughbot
Thanks for the heads-up! My background is legal, so I am actually excited to
learn about that stuff. =)

