4th year biglaw, corporate, NYC, with offer to go in house to a tech startup as first legal hire. 30% salary pay cut (ignoring bonus and ignoring equity on offer).
Y or N?

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Agree with all of the no responses. I would recommend an in-house gig where you can learn the ropes of in-house dynamics and get some more generalist type experience + 5-6 years more practicing and then it’s a different conversation.

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Agree with all the other comments but want to add that you definitely need generalist knowledge going into one of these roles. You need to be the adult in the room and call out commercial, HR, IP, corp governance, privacy, etc aspects. Being first legal is tough because everyone else is used to doing pretty much what they want and you need to start setting them straight. It’s a tough job but great too - I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It also helps to have a decent business acumen and give your opinion when you think the business isn’t making the right call (eg signing an exclusivity clause with a customer).

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This is the truth! I’ve been through this multiple times.

Absolutely, business acumen (and giving commercial opinions) is critical to gain their trust so when you “set them straight” they understand you get what is going on, yet still say “do it different”

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NO. Tbh you’re not experienced enough to be the GC here. I don’t see this ending well for you.

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That's not partner level experience in my book. Mid level to senior associate if you ask me.

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No, because imagine this: you are the only guy with legal experience on that team. Startups have tons of issues, even if the issues are simple and don't require tons of work. They're going to rely on you for EVERYTHING. You're taking a pay cut to do more work and have less WLB than biglaw.

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I’d be wary of investors trying to push you out or put someone on top of you if there’s any early turbulence with board meetings etc

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Feel free to DM me. I did this (but 2nd hire, but 1st hire left for mat leave and didnt return). It was lucrative, learned a ton, was very stressful, faced some serious ethical challenged.

Ask what their plan to scale legal is. Are you keeping the seat warm til they bring in a GC or CLO who you onboard and who gets 10-25X your equity? Pass.

Make sure you are on the Exec team and they build in a serious salary escalator fir you.

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No, assuming this is your first in-house gig, I would NOT want to be the first legal hire unless you have substantial resources to lean on outside counsel.

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Yeah fundamentally you want to learn from more experienced in house folks in your early roles

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This is a terrible idea unless you have in writing that you have a hefty budget for outside counsel. And even if you did, you’d need a significantly higher salary to make it even remotely worthwhile. But really do not do it, you don’t have the experience to spot the variety of issues that will inevitably pop up, and likely your business counterparts won’t respect you at all.

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Disagree on the respect piece and salary — the former will depend on OP, the latter is a personal consideration. Agreed on the rest.

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That’s a lot of math. What’s the base pay?

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Not a bad package, I would push for bonus in cash too since who knows what the equity is worth or will be worth. However, consider that you’re taking a pay cut to likely work a lot more (at least in the initial stages) since you’re their first legal hire. If you do decide make sure they have a good outside counsel budget because you’ll probably next help since you’re junior.

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You have 3 years and change, maybe almost 4 years experience, as a 4th year. If this is successful I'd expect them to seek someone with more experience in short order. Not many investors going to be reassured by GC with your experience. Obviously not a comment on your talent, merely be the perception.

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I dont know if I'd consider all of those people successful stories tbh.

But look this is really about your goals and what youre being brought in to do. You might be GC, you might also be GC light and those are very different things for the long haul. What do you want for the long term? If it's startup GC then yes, do it.

Shoot me a DM if you want to discuss a bit more.

What are your long term goals? To be a start-up GC or a GC of a bigger company? GC too early in your career can have some downsides, even if they are just perception. If this doesn’t end up being a unicorn position you may have trouble moving to next role other than similar small start-up.

Startups are an absolute nightmare for legal, and if you’re the only member of the legal team, then all will fall on your shoulders should anything not go as planned. I would pass…

Been hearing this for months 🙄

Honestly, I say go for it. If it’s too much or you don’t like it, you can always go back to a firm. No one on here knows your grit and willingness or ability to learn the things you do not know. Our profession is filled with many risk averse people who will try to tell you, you shouldn’t do something because of lack of experience, or because they wouldn’t do it out of fear. If you are willing to take the pay cut and continue to have no WLB, then take the leap

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Hi
Hope you are doing well

I was working with Mindtickle.
And unfortunately got laidoff from Talent Acquisition team.

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Location - Delhi NCR /Remote
Exp- 5+year. Relevant (2.3year)
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Regards
Aditya

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