Title says it all. Equity offers are a very common thing in tech. I don't personally know anyone who has made money from equity offers, though nearly all my colleagues have received them at some point.
Does anyone have real data on how many employees actually see financial upside from equity grants? Are there studies or even anecdotal numbers on how common it is for non-executives/non-founders to walk away with any money? Specifically talking about privately held US startups.
RSUs at a public company are straight-up benefit if you survive to vesting. Whether that was better than getting more salary is only known in hindsight, but some companies are reliable in that being pretty good. Not FU money anymore, but when it's over 100% of your base it is objectively good. Options at a public company are risky, the markets were favorable for a while but you can see that high-flyers may be at the top of their market. Anything at a private company is a crapshoot, mostly filled with crap. Top execs and maybe a few early employees can benefit from some equity sales. Since you are asking the question, I'll guess this doesn't describe you. In general the company needs to thrive pretty well or have an in on a buzzy acquihire for either options or RSUs to be worth anything, and you took a salary cut for those chances. The old rule of 9 out 10 fail may need updating, but if you join at series C or after you have still a 90% chance of 0 and a 10% chance of a little something (because the quantity and pricing at that point is not all that interesting). Plenty of companies will not top you up after your first grant, so your slice is small. A few companies take care of their employees, but you need to treat the employer's statements in this as completely suspect. An employee, outside of work and in a social setting, is much more reliable.
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