I joined a seed company w/ a $10m valuation in early 2014, starting offer was 1%. after series a, b, c, and some smaller retention grants, I had about 0.4%. Left before fully vesting, so ended up with 0.3%. Company was acquired for $4b and I made $12m. After taxes, netted about $7.5m
Joined another seed company with $10m valuation in 2016, starting offer was 3%. after a few dilutive funding rounds and some generous retention grants, ended up with 1.2%. Company also acquired for $4b and I made $50m. Will probably have about $35m from this one after tax.
Obviously I was _incredibly_ lucky in picking those two companies, but maybe those numbers shed some light on dilution, taxes, etc. I wouldn't have made anywhere near that much if I'd joined those companies after series a, let alone b or c. I encourage anyone I know who wants to make 7 figures to work for faang for a few years. If they want to make 8 figures, start a company or join as the very first hire (as I did) if you're not willing to take the risk of being a founder.
This is a good 'best-case' example that anyone could hope for, and like you say - you probably need to be one of first few engineering hires to have a shot at this type of outcome.
I bet this goes the other way, especially at the exec level. That is, the best indicator of startup success is past startup success. Certainly funding is easier, building the team is easier, and the emotional decision making is easier.
I joined a seed company w/ a $10m valuation in early 2014, starting offer was 1%. after series a, b, c, and some smaller retention grants, I had about 0.4%. Left before fully vesting, so ended up with 0.3%. Company was acquired for $4b and I made $12m. After taxes, netted about $7.5m
Joined another seed company with $10m valuation in 2016, starting offer was 3%. after a few dilutive funding rounds and some generous retention grants, ended up with 1.2%. Company also acquired for $4b and I made $50m. Will probably have about $35m from this one after tax.
Obviously I was _incredibly_ lucky in picking those two companies, but maybe those numbers shed some light on dilution, taxes, etc. I wouldn't have made anywhere near that much if I'd joined those companies after series a, let alone b or c. I encourage anyone I know who wants to make 7 figures to work for faang for a few years. If they want to make 8 figures, start a company or join as the very first hire (as I did) if you're not willing to take the risk of being a founder.