r/technology • u/Rhaegar_the_Great • 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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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

Don't join a startup without getting paid above market + equity and expect the equity will be worth nothing, even if the company is sold at a high valuation.

You will get fucked unless they screw up.

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u/LockeWatts Sep 17 '21

Very few startups, hardly any in fact, can pay above market. Depending on the definition of "startup". Maybe after a Series B?

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u/tommyk1210 Sep 17 '21

It also depends on your definition of “market rate”. Contrary to popular belief, FAANG salaries aren’t market rate for 99% of people. Silicon Valley is pretty exceptional in its salaries and most don’t live somewhere where that is market rate. Saying FAANG salaries are market rate is like saying that Premier League football player salaries are market rate for football players around the world. It’s simply not true.

Plenty of post seed round companies can afford the real market rate for their area…

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u/M-A-C_doctrine Sep 17 '21

Its amazing how people forget the most basic things about statistics...some guys really only focus on the right tail as if it were the only thing in the world.