There is no fixed rule as such. Mostly tech and product folks get ESOPs. Retention bonus is used by fairly young startups. You should definitely ask before accepting. Its a part of your offer letter.

Software Engineer

Just wanted to know how often startups offer retention bonuses and ESOPs to their new hires?   Also, is it a good thing to ask HR about these before finalizing the offer?

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Just wanted to know how often startups offer retention bonuses and ESOPs to their new hires? 

Also, is it a good thing to ask HR about these before finalizing the offer?

Variable Pay

Analyst

Variable Pay- Grapevine

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

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 ?

Should esops component  be mentioned in offer letter?

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

I interviewed for a company called tooljet, cleared all the rounds.

During the negotiation with HR, in the later stages of negotiation I had asked few questions like
1. Is there any Esops(no)
2. Appraisal cycle(it's a startup, depends on performance)
3. Promotion possibility(it's a startup so depends on the performance)
4. Performance bonus(it's a startup depends on performance) no range given
5. Medical insurance ( it's a startup so no)
6. Probation period(3 months)
7. Leave policy(21 days yearly, can't take more than 3 days consecutively) the head of product and tech lead said it will be unlimited
8. Public holidays(national holidays yes + 1 day for diwali) so 5-6 days I'm assuming 
9. Work from home expenses if any?(no)
10. Working hours(10-7, it's a startup so you might have to work long hours)
11. Working days( 5 days)
12. Notice period( 1 month)
13. Joining date(tomorrow) lol, I asked her to defer it by a week

1st call was regarding my expectations ( she said she will give me 30-35% increment on previous)
2nd call was about her offer(gave me 23%)
3rd call was regarding all these questions
4th call I accepted asked her to defer it by a week
5th call she said no, saying you asked a lot of questions, we want someone who can focus on the growth of our startup and not worry about these things.
I never got a chance to negotiate, she never accepted or even bothered to listen to any of my requests. I asked her to increase it by 30% and she didn't even bother to listen and refused it. Her entire attitude was , take it or leave it.
She said she can't negotiate each and every day,and I barely got a chance to even negotiate.
Did I say anything wrong or is the HR stupid?

Negotiation with HR

Backend engineer

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

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 :)

Value of ESOPs in early stage startups?

Product Manager

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

ESOPs is offered by an early age startup. What are the things I does be aware about? or ask the founders to clarify with me.

Human resources

How much does a core team member gets in equity in an early stage startup?

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?)

Salary expectation at early stage startup

I have come across early stage startups where the founders try to lowball you on the compensation by painting a very rosy picture of the future and a verbal commitment for offering generous ESOPs. Such commitments are almost never honored :) Have you experienced something similar?

Founders who promise equity to hire

Founder

I recently cleared the interviews for a very well seed funded startup. I want to know how should I negotiate? HR has asked me to tell the expectations, how to benchmark it?

Also, how much ESOPs should I ask for? 

YOE-1.5

Salary Negotiation

Operation manager

How would the new employer get to know this?
Also what is the general % of salary offered in esops ?

While switching, can I lie about my esop compensation part in my salary?

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.

How to ask for ESOPs when you are a founding engineer

I'm switching PM jobs from my existing company (Series E unicorn) where I had a good ESOP policy to a smaller company (just past Seed stage, raising Series A).

Weirdly, they're not offering me a proper ESOP package (vague figures, no useful $ values mentioned in the offer) even though the salary offer is pretty good. Company culture is good & team seems happy during my interactions.

Should I be worried? Any suggestions on how I can approach this convo with co-founder are welcome too.

Looking for advice on pay/ESOP at a new firm

Senior product manager

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?

Are your ESOPs worth it?

Product Owner

How do you evaluate the risk and the potential of the offer from an early-stage (seed stage done) startup in India?

For example (hypothetical), a seasoned leader / founder is starting a new startup in fintech industry (e.g., next zerodha, etc). They raise 10 million USD at 30 million USD post-money valuation. 

I took fintech as example specifically to ensure it's not only engineers that will be needed from the beginning.

* Now, If I were to join as a founding team member (founding engineer for example), what kind of salary, ESOPs one should expect as minimum?

* If I were to join after 2-3 engineers are already hired (so not founding engg anymore), what is realistic expectation? 

* What are some questions I must ask to evaluate if the offer and equity I am being given is good or not.

(I know there's probably no way to generalise a "good/bad offer" as that likely depends also on very specific situation of the startup - like what problem is it trying to tackle, and what is the potential of it, etc. So feel free to share your experience as well if not advice)

Evaluating risk of joining a seed stage startup

Hi, I got an offer from a Series B startup and they are giving me 3000 shares of ESOPs vested over 4 years. Right now the value of each shares are worth $5 and has a potential to grow after new funding rounds this year. I feel 3000 shares is less and want to negotiate for more. 

In your experience can anyone tell me how much ESOPs (shares) have you received from new startups? And was it benefecial in the long run?

Any input is appreciated.

How much ESOPs should I ask from a Series B startup?

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.

ESOPs in early stage startups

Currently in talks with the CEO of a small international startup (less than 10 total members spread across 4 countries). My existing profile is an exact match for what they are looking for in a candidate (they are implementation partners of my existing company's software). 
I am pretty close to closing it but now he wishes to know my existing salary. I tried to avoid sharing it but he wants to know it before quoting anything to me. 
I wish to get a huge raise (80-100%) since i will be moving from a known brand to an unknown startup with all the skills they need and more from Day 1. 
Any tips on how I can handle this situation?

How to avoid disclosing current salary

Consultant

Hi folks, 

I'm Kashish, the CEO of EquityList and Founder of Cloud Capital which I run as a solo GP.
A little bit about what we do: 

EquityList is a full-stack equity management platform by AngelList India. Companies across India, US and Singapore use EquityList to manage their cap table, stock options (ESOP/SAR), shareholders, and related compliances. Managing equity for 10k+ stakeholders, 250+ companies and ~$1B in stock options.

Cloud Capital has deployed $8M+ in 55+ startups such as Airmeet, Rupifi, Orange Health, DevRev, ZET (OneCode) and others. I've also angel invested in startups such as OSlash, Atlys, Chronicle, Even Healthcare and others.

Excited to do this AMA, and look forward to answering any of your questions about ESOPs, cap table management, investing, entrepreneurship, and more!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kashisharma

Variable Pay

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