Founders who promise equity to hire

The data nerd in me loves this feature very much! Pay transparency is very cool. Although, I'm miffed to realise that Big Tech compensation is still top of the market.

Hi everyone, I joined a startup back in May which started in May itself. I wrote the first line of code and it has been the backend work since then and have hired a few interns along the way. I took some pay cut to join this startup and i didn't receive any share/ESOPs as well in my offer letter. but whenever i talk to my friends who have worked or are working in these types of companies, ask me to ask for the ESOPs/equity from my founder. I did talk about equity/ESOPs before accepting my offer letter but that time, they said, you will be issued ESOPs later on when we raise some funding. We will make some ESOPs plan when we raise funding. I know that our company has only raised friends and family round of amount near to 1cr. Now I need advice on.. should i bring up this conversation again with the company's founder ? And how much percentage of equity should I be asking..? given that I am giving my 101% daily and leading the backend team.. although i have industry experience of only 3 years but have good academic achievements and has completed graduation in computer science in tier-1 college.

Hello All, I interviewed with a startup recently and some of their policies around esops was something I encountered for the first time in my career, so wanted the expert advice of the community on next steps. Surprise one: ESOPs will be allocated post probation period of 3 months and vesting starts from there and not the date of joining, I was surprised on this but upon discussion with the company POC I was given a reason of the legal fees involved, which sounds fair but the vesting schedule is it employee favourable? Surprise two: They shared an offer letter with only the fixed component and said ESOPs will be evaluated post completion of probation period basis performance. Upon further discussing in this I was informed that this is a standard format their VC(sequoia, a16z and elevation) have approved. Is this true because I asked around few of my friends and all of them said esops are an integral part of the startup compensation and all of my and their offer letters historically had esops mentioned along with their value. Wrt to point 2 an I asking too much or some practice has changed in the industary which I’m unaware about. Also esop value post probation evaluation, is it employee friendly as the employee is in non negotiable position, isn’t it ?

If he gives me ESOPs worth the CEO's shares then sure I would have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Wanted to know and understand the reality behind the terms and conditions that new startups puts while promising ESOPs at the time of joining. Please share ur experience so that everyone gets aware.

My profile: EX. Founder turned Product+ strategy person YOE: 5+ ESOPs: 80 lakhs Cliff: 1 year Vesting period: 48 months I am still thinking after how many years it will be valuable given the liquidity is very rare for ESOPs. Any thoughts?

I’m considering joining as a founding engineer at an early stage startup who is just about to sign a $4M seed round. They offered to match my current base and a $20,000 in ESOPs. When joining at such early stage companies, how should I think of ESOPs so that I can better negotiate. I’m banking on this idea going big and I want to get as much ESOPs as possible to maximise my returns in the future.

How many of you had ESOP related promises by founders broken by them ? Could any of you appeal to their better senses and get any money or were you hung out to dry completely ??