Startup compensation is weird. Pretty much everyone makes about the same amount (currently, $100-150k for engineers and executives) but equity allotments are massively skewed. Equity in the VC-funded world exacerbates inequality monstrously, because management often takes 10-100+ times more per person.
Personally, I don't think it's worth taking equity seriously unless (a) it's public stock, which has a published value, or (b) you know the cap table. If you don't get to see the cap table and term sheets, that employee equity is pretty meaningless-- not worth taking a pay cut or working typical startup hours.
it is basically a matter of getting paid the value you are worth. Unfortunately, its hard to tell sometimes, and even harder to know if you were being tricked =(
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Startup compensation is weird. Pretty much everyone makes about the same amount (currently, $100-150k for engineers and executives) but equity allotments are massively skewed. Equity in the VC-funded world exacerbates inequality monstrously, because management often takes 10-100+ times more per person.
Personally, I don't think it's worth taking equity seriously unless (a) it's public stock, which has a published value, or (b) you know the cap table. If you don't get to see the cap table and term sheets, that employee equity is pretty meaningless-- not worth taking a pay cut or working typical startup hours.
it is basically a matter of getting paid the value you are worth. Unfortunately, its hard to tell sometimes, and even harder to know if you were being tricked =(