I went through exactly the same discussion in my last job search, and was assured that the offer was in line with industry standards. Even if this tiny company somehow became worth a billion dollars, I’d still make less money than if I’d worked as a senior engineer at Google or wherever. I liked the team and I think it would have been a fun job, but not quite fun enough to work nearly for free. I don’t think I’ll ever work for an early startup as an employee.
I recall a discussion where a founder kept insisting that a 10% offer for a pre-funding startup was beyond standard and that I should be lucky to get such an offer.. the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.
Ultimately, this individual needed someone to shape and build the core of their product and the net of a series B would have been at most a wash compared to current employment.
> Even if this tiny company somehow became worth a billion dollars, I’d still make less money than if I’d worked as a senior engineer at Google or wherever
this is why they don’t belong in start up land
running and working in a start up requires a certain type of insanity
The OPs complaint is not that the risk is high, the OPs complaint is that the risk relative to their market rate is not balanced. Often you can end up working for junior founders and would be better off as a founder yourself.
If the founder views you as replaceable, then why not work at a big tech which would pay you dramatically more? Successful startups are not often populated by the irrational.
