Are ESOPs worthless?

After reading this article, it seems like early players who have become big had the fortune of liquidity. What do you think about more recent startups in last 5yrs or so? https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/esop-cashout-events-drop-by-62-in-2023-as-funding-winter-bites-11987051.html

Hey folks, Got a full time offer as an APM and they offered: 1. 10 LPA Base 2. 1 lakh Retention Bonus (will be given in the first month) 3. 1 lakh ESOPS Should I accept or negotiate for more? If I negotiate, which component should I negotiate and how much? Thanks in advance.

This post is for younger minds to not fall for ESOPs as a wealth creation tool. Why do I say that? ESOP pool is generally less than 10% of total equity distributed among thousand and ten thousands of employees. The share you get is miniscule. Founders saying that the pie will be big enough so that this percentage will matter is a hyper-optimistic prediction with nothing to back it. You have to ideally wait till IPO to even make the miniscule amount. Very few companies buyback and fewer will do post-ZIRP ESOPs only give you the option to buy not right to buy. Company can in some circumstances take that right away. People in positions of power should negotiate for rights not option. The success rate of startups is less than 10% which means the chances of this miniscule amount is low. Overall, lowering your salary for more ESOPs won't make sense unless you are convinced that the startup will go big.

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.

I have 6 years experience. My current base/fixed is 60 LPA. (I also got a 5 lakh bonus and 5 lakh of my ESOPs vested this year making my total vested about 30 lakh. So the total comp is 70). I'm being offered a senior engineer position in an early stage startup (as part of the founding engineer team). They haven't given an offer yet. Being early stage, the emphasis will most likely be on ESOPs. How do I evaluate this and set my expectations? (If I were to switch to a mature company, I believe the hikes usually are between 15-20%? How does this work for early stage startups?)

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?

Hello guys, I would want to know what is the benefit of getting ESOPs in an early stage startup? The startup has a great team and working on a promising product. I have been offered a package with somewhat lower fixed component and somewhat higher ESOPs. Need insightful pointers here. TIA :)

How do you understand that Esops alloted in ctc are good enough? Do companies have them fixed as percentage of ctc (ex. 30% of ctc) or how does it work? What are the questions i can ask to get a better understanding of the Esops? One would be current valuation, last buyback time, what else? Is there any good resource to understand this?

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.

What's the value of your ESOPs when allotted to you and their worth now? Or they just melted like soap?