WobblyBurrito

"ESOPs made me rich af"

Where did you work and how much money did you make?

Asking as it looks like a lot of promise of ESOPs and wealth creation has failed employees in this bloodbath slow growth, layoffs, and job changes.

14mo ago

Talking product sense with Ridhi

9 min AI interview5 questions

SqueakyNarwhal

Student14mo

I have had ESOPS in 2 companies #1 - company got acquired ..I got 45 Lacs IN ESOP ...thats 1.5X of my last annualized salary ( so additional salary for 18 months) #2 - Company became unicorn ... I quit and company bought my ESOPs . Got 2 Cr That is 3X of my annualized salary

Company 1 - I had joined at very early stage ; Company 2 - I joined at mid-stage

PrancingBagel

Stealth14mo

That's some amazing numbers👏

DizzyLlama

Atlys14mo

How are you still a student?

BouncyQuokka

EXL14mo

Many zomans I know are filthy rich already.

WobblyBurrito

Unacademy14mo

Like upwards of 5 cr? What's the range like?

GoofyBagel

Stealth14mo

Ex Zoman here. I know a lot of people who made 3 - 10cr. These people stayed at Zomato for six years.

ZoomyPotato

Stealth14mo

I used to have 65L, atleast that’s what it showed on the portal, now I’ve left the company it’s dropped to 6L

Ps. They did do a buyout and I did encash around 5L

SillyBurrito

Stealth14mo

Wow, getting something to materialize from esops is a big deal.

My managers used to say, I would get 2 cr out of my esops 😂

I left with zero.

ZoomyPotato

Stealth14mo

True.. it is quite rare!
2cr to zero is quite the drop, I think the key is to keep expectations to zero when it comes to ESOPS

SillyDonut

TCS14mo

Unacademy making people rich, really?

WobblyBurrito

Unacademy14mo

Old employees higher ups have huge salaries. Educator winning wars and get paid a lot. New hires aren't paid so much. Unsure about the valuation. Hopes are high.

SillyDonut

TCS14mo

Why prashant Dhawan left?

He was top educator and 4m subscribers.

He was paid 23cr in last fy

WigglyPanda

Cult.fit14mo

I have cashed out ~30L and have 1.5 Cr of vested esops for future liquidation.
ESOP success stories are real.

WobblyBurrito

Unacademy14mo

This was buyback? Not IPO I suppose. How many times the value increased?

WigglyPanda

Cult.fit14mo

IPO would’ve been much larger. This was buyback. Value of initial grant while joining increased 50X.

I still wish I should’ve negotiated the deal more on ESOPs than cash when I joined.

JumpyNarwhal

Swiggy14mo

I had ESOP value of 15 lakh vested in 3 years. Then I left the company and choose not to excercise it because I did not want to pay taxes before liquidation. After 1 year the company got acquired with very less valuation. Only investors, founders and some early employees made some money. The rest 80% did not get any money. So, I took the right decision not to excercise otherwise I had to pay taxes and would have got 0 money.

SquishyPanda

Flipkart14mo

Flipkart(folks who joined pre 2017) phone pe and Swiggy employees (leaders and folks who joined pre 2019, and stayed)

SqueakyNugget

Flipkart14mo

Any numbers in cr ?

PrancingPotato

Stealth14mo

Most folks have zero understanding of what ESOPs are and how they work:

I know someone who took a loan from family & friends saying (& sincerely believing) that they have ESOPs worth 1Cr. Obviously, he got shock of his life when I explained him. The fool ended up getting a random street-side lawyer to send a legal notice to his present company, saying he was promised 1Cr etc. Got fired. 😪
I asked someone how much emergency fund they have.. and they replied 30L in ESOPs. 🤦‍♂️
Most folks include ESOP numbers in their pay and share it with others.