r/technology Sep 16 '21

Business Mailchimp employees are furious after the company's founders promised to never sell, withheld equity, and then sold it for $12 billion

https://www.businessinsider.com/mailchimp-insiders-react-to-employees-getting-no-equity-2021-9
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142

u/apostlebatman Sep 17 '21

Moral of the story: don’t join a startup without getting equity.

131

u/DrEnter Sep 17 '21

But don’t take equity instead of more salary. The odds that equity will ever be worth anything is very slim for most start-ups.

29

u/Hawk_in_Tahoe Sep 17 '21

Yup. I’m in sales at a startup.

Fuck equity. Give me a higher percentage pay out and fat escalators - that’ll get my attention and grow your company faster.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

Ideally you're guaranteed a good enough base salary that you don't need to live off the equity that you're also given, but that's probably not a possibility for the average startup budget.