I’ve had a couple offers of 1%. One was my first job which I accepted because I needed a job. The second was a YC backed startup during Covid. The base salary was $100k which I didn’t think was close to acceptable. The salary ranges were recommended by their investors, they showed me the worksheets the VCs gave them.
I just was not confident that in 5, 10 years time my shares would break even with the opportunity cost. And I’m a hardware engineer, so lower opportunity cost than most on HN. I’m not sure how the math ever works out where the startup is a good decision? I guess odds of unicorn valuations are possible for you software people, almost non existent for hardware. Do you factor in anticipated salary raises?
I just was not confident that in 5, 10 years time my shares would break even with the opportunity cost. And I’m a hardware engineer, so lower opportunity cost than most on HN. I’m not sure how the math ever works out where the startup is a good decision? I guess odds of unicorn valuations are possible for you software people, almost non existent for hardware. Do you factor in anticipated salary raises?