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Don't take it. That's shady af
Don’t be disappointed, be grateful you found out before you signed on. Startups and new co.s mess up so much before they establish a culture and figure out how to treat people. They don’t know what they’re doing; you can’t miss something that never existed to be had.
I’m trying to find some positive in this offer. So far I’m just incredibly disappointed in the offer. So I’m wondering if the value is really in the stock options…. But no one can tell me the exercise price because it’s decided 1 year from now.
I’m also feeling like, ok in your example let’s say the strike price is $25 for 20,000 shares but what if it turns out to be a strike price of $100? Either number, I don’t have cash in the bank to buy these shares because you’re paying me a base managers wage from 3 years ago.
Subject Expert
If they’re saying you’ll get options after the IPO, that’s not part of the offer - chance they will never IPO. They also probably genuinely don’t know what to offer you in post ipo shares because they don’t know yet how many shares they will issue or the valuation.
It’s possible that they really want you to come onboard but you’re not as senior as they would like for the head, or senior enough for pre ipo equity. They should have explained that early on though, not spring it on you in the offer letter.
Options should have a strike price attached to them based on the latest valuation. Your profit will be TBD based on share price when you sell, but they should absolutely be able to tell you how much your options are worth
Very unusual to not include the strike price. Normally strike price is based on current company value, so you are incentivized to work hard to increase the value of the company, making options worth more.
It is normal for there to be *some* lag between a stock option grant and its pricing, because:
1/ Stock / option grants are approved by the Board at periodic Board of Directors meetings
2/ The Board are responsible for setting or confirming the strike prices for any issued equity at approval time
3/ That price can be subject to change due to either changing business circumstances (a proposed upcoming financing for example) and must be annually by the Board using the advice of outside valuation consultants (see: “409A”)
All of that said, it is highly unusual for a company to propose a grant that is to be priced a year out.
More typical would be “X shares and todays strike price is $Y. We don’t anticipate that going up at the next Board Meeting in [some # less than 90] days but we can’t guarantee that”
Not a lot to offer here but shouldn’t they include the RSU price in the offer? Seems a little fishy if they’re not giving you numbers on what you could expect.
They can't tell you what the *value* of the stock will be post-IPO, obviously. The market decides that. But if they award you stock options, the stock options include a strike price. If they are not telling you (A) How many options you get, and (B) What the strike price is for those options, then they aren't actually awarding you options, per se, as part of your comp package... they are simply "promising" to give you some stock in the future. (Which is pretty sketchy).
Salary and perks seems low
Subject Expert
Many late stage companies wont go into F-D percentages for rank and file (non-execs) because they are meaningless.
Are you going to join or not join because your equity is 0.0004% versus 0.0002%?
The best practice is to provide a dollar amount of the equity _at today's valuation_, understanding that a mid- to late- stage startup will likely have increases in valuation.
What’s this company? Are they in fintech? At 4 weeks of interviews and this sounds eerily familiar.
Counter offer with job title and salary. Ask for a high enough salary that you won’t be hugely disappointed if the stock does not work out. Job title should be simple since you applied for “Head of” it should stay that way. Can you tell on Glassdoor what others are being paid?
Subject Expert
No...they are reported and if there is nit enough data, Glassdoor adds jts own estimates, some of which are wildly off. I know this because we had to retain counsel after they were publishing salaries that were below state minimums. This is what they told us on the call.