I'll second this. Unless you're joining as CTO/VP of Engineering, 1% seems like a very generous grant.

By all means, you should try to negotiate for more, but as the first employee at one startup and the third at another I was never given more than about .5% initially, with additional grants later on as reward for high performance and to help offset some dilution in later rounds.

Your risk profile may be lower than theirs, but I would take 1% as a signal that they really really really want you. I can guarantee they are not going to be giving employees 5-10 anywhere near 1%.

Is not a solely engineering role. I am leading a team and a product as well (which will most likely be just me for a couple of months). Which is actually what I'd expect from first engineer hires on a startup. But thanks a lot for the perspective.

How do you determine "market salary"?