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OP I am literally weighing this option right now.
I currently work for publicly traded tech making 550k TC as a business-side Director.
In final stages with a Series B rocket ship to be their “Head of X”. Cash comp would actually increase slightly (250k vs 220k) and of course the equity is the big unknown.
Will update this comment when I get the offer.
Congrats D2! Huge move. Right I’m still a first year director earlier in my career - landed at a rocket ship but much much later stage and also much much less equity / %. Lower risk but was a promo for me career wise / responsibilities, still decent skin in the game and a taste of startup life. Cash in line with above around 250 but equity significantly less than D2
Not in Bay Area but it’s part of my strategy. I’m on my first IPO with TC ~$300K of which I only spend about $74K / year. I started at $170K TC. Hoping to hop IPOs every 4-5 years. There’s a huge luck element to find one who will IPO within 4 years of joining. I think the trick is to target a company valued around $400M-$600M because they aren’t too small that it’s risky or too big to miss out on growth.
Second part of my strategy is to move homes every 3 years and rent out the old ones. So far on home #2. With this strategy and a lot of luck I’m guessing I’ll have $10M by the time I’m 45. Probably sooner if I count my partner’s income.
Hoping to end up in the mountains with a bad ass ski in home and helping my partner open a yoga studio or rock climbing gym.
It is oftentimes publicized alongside the raise. If not you would just ask when you get the offer.
To get that sort of equity you’ll need to be super early stage. Might waste 10 years of your career at a start up that goes nowhere.
Do you wanna take that risk? 
Having helped for an online tax company I have seen basic engineers and IT folks get $500k-$2M stock IPO and RSU. I think just a few years of experience and working at company.
Also saw some top tech companies consistently give $100ks/year in RSU.
Coach
Even if you join late stage a solid IPO could net you 2-3M. Many friends from Robinhood made 2-3m when they joined in 2018, one made 8M joining in 2016.
@VCA2 Joining a late stage Series D/E unicorn growing 2x per year at D level in strategy / Corp dev. After 3-4 years in VC, 2 years IBD. Will give it a shot and see. 🤞
The list of highly valued pre-ipo saas companies are small but pretty well know. Join any of Stripe, databricks, plaid, reddit, figma, hashicorp, and a couple more right now and you have a solid chance
Yes. You can also pretty much tell from the hype in the news. The other thing is you’ll need to be in a role with a high portion of equity based comp
In my experience, those crossover between considerable shares and not having an SEC mandated sale window is pretty small. If you can figure out the balance, more power to ya
Multiple IPOs or if you are senior, sure.
Yeah I’m at one right now but I got in very late and negotiated poorly on the equity so I’ll do okay but nothing game changing.
Thinking of giving it another shot soon and hoping for a bigger pay day!
Wishing you lots of luck 🤞🏽
I have never worked for a startup or an early stage company, but from the posts above it looks like the only way to make decent money is by having a decent amount of equity in early stage and cash out after IPO. If the formula is so straight forward, then why aren’t more people doing this? I mean everyone wants to work for FAANG or MBB but not many are trying for joining startups. Is it because people don’t want to take risks? Is this scenario (e.g. robinhood as mentioned above) very rare?
Hi. The legal team at your SaaS company that is late stage often is working 16 hour days. Who do you think makes the IPO or exit happen? We're tired.
Mentor
The chances of landing at a startup that'll give you enough equity to eventually liquidate at that figure is pretty small, SV or no.
At this market, anything is possible.
Following… how do we identify these pre-IPO companies?
Hit up a recruiter and have them filter you all pre-IPO opportunities.
It's certainly a part of my strategy, but I'm just daisy-chaining them for good solid chunks, rather than hoping for one big break. Getting in super early can mean serious cash, but you have to wait not just 4 years to vest, but however long that IPO can take, which could be much longer. My way I can wait to get in until the company is solid and IPO more likely. You get less shares and the strike price is higher, but it's more of a sure bet, and sooner. Do a bunch of 3-5 year stints for like $350-500k each still gets you there.
Obviously not my only strategy, but it's adding value so far.
D1 - love it.
Yes! Also convinced there’s something there in this market. Even if you’re getting ~$75-100K in equity a year in a later stage start up and that goes up 4-5x once they ipo, making $1M if you stay 2+ years isn’t crazy (and if they are ISOs even better and tax effective if done correctly). Fintech seems to be a hot industry where ipos are booming
D1 it is a good strategy. Most of us will not be so lucky to join a company like google or Facebook in the first year.. so the next best option is to do what u said above. We have all heard of so many stories like chamath palihapitiya, or marissa Myers who made like a billion dollars because they joined the right company at right time..