Question about choosing between a big salary and a startup offer

I picked the startup's lower pay for a 10% equity stake in Austin, and after 18 months, that choice let me buy my first house when we got acquired.

3 comments

3 Comments

bailey.sandra2mo ago

10% equity in Austin is a crazy gamble that actually paid off. Most startups fail before any acquisition talk. You basically won the lottery with that house down payment.

bailey.sandra2mo ago

Got lucky and bought a ticket on the one rocket ship that didn't blow up on the launch pad. I mean, I spent years getting paid in cold pizza and vague promises, fully expecting my equity to be worth about as much as a used keyboard. Watching that acquisition offer come in felt like finding a forgotten lottery ticket in a coat pocket.

mark_fisher482d ago

10% equity? Good heavens, that's a huge chunk of the company. I don't know many startup folks who end up holding onto that much when an acquisition happens, usually the investors and the founder take the lion's share before anyone else sees a dime. You must have been a real early employee or the first person they brought on after the CEO, because that kind of payout is almost unheard of these days.