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Comment by abbasmehdi | Hacker News Reader

That's not the trade-off (his own start-up), the trade-off is staying at Appl/MS/GOOG vs these guys.

Also, if the only good investment was in a billion dollar company then there would be no YC and definitely no Yuri Milner with his no cap, no discount convertible broadside loan of 150k.

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Exactly what abbasmehdi suggested. I could have a fruitful or, at least, profitable career for a few years at one of those companies.

This wouldn't be a billion dollar company. I give it a $30-40M exit.

Oops I missed that part. Argument retracted. Yeah this isn't a good enough deal given his situation. I'd ask for a lot more equity or walk.

Any ideas on numbers? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to this and I'm afraid making too large of an ask will blow negotiations.

Honestly, I'd be a happy developer at $85k and 2% overall. But that's a huge step up from their offer.

Ask them "What if in 2 yrs I become so vital that if I leave the company falls apart?" Let 'em know that early back-end engineers have an enormous impact, and you walking could cost them the company, and why wouldn't you, you'd just be an employee with pennies in stake. Then suggest you're open to being a 30% equity stakeholder (co-founder). ;)

Think about it this way, if you ballbark their maximum exit at $30M, and you own 1%, you end up with $300,000. But the chance of that happening are slim. You already make good money, at $85K per year you can save and invest more than $300K in a few years without too much trouble.

Other considerations aside, why take any risk when you already have a sure thing? Whether they offer 1% or even 10% doesn't make much of a difference.

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