Negotiating the Right Job Offer – Long Form Q&A Between Stock Option Counsel and BINC Search

Thanks for reading our shorter blog post: Bull's Eye - Negotiating the Right Job Offer. This is the full Q&A between Mary Russell and Boris Epstein. It’s long, but it’s full of lots of insights on how to negotiate the right compensation offer from a company.

Mary Russell counsels individual employees and founders to negotiate, maximize and monetize their stock options and other startup stock. She is an attorney and the founder of Stock Option Counsel.

Boris Epstein is the founder of BINC Search, a next-generation recruiting startup that helps Silicon Valley companies hire technical talent at the scale they need.

Mary Russell, Attorney @ Stock Option Counsel: Welcome, Boris. I’ve always enjoyed our discussions on compensation negotiations because you seem to believe that a candidate and a company can discover a “right offer.” Employees who come to me for Stock Option Counsel want to get to that “right offer” for salary and equity, and I’m happy you’ve joined us to share your perspective on how to get there.

Boris Epstein, Founder @ BINC Search: Thank you. I think there is a right offer in a compensation negotiation, and companies and candidates arrive there by identifying four data points:

1.     The candidate’s Past Comp

2.     The Peer Comp of the candidate’s level within the company

3.     The candidate’s Desired Comp and

4.     The Market Comp or competitive scenarios in the market

The epicenter of all the different data points would be what they would arrive at to get a right offer. So if all four numbers align, it’s really easy. If the four numbers are divergent in some way, then someone’s going to have to make tradeoffs and concessions. If the person’s making $100,000 but then they want $200,000, and market’s $150,000, someone’s going to have to make a tradeoff somewhere to arrive at the right package.

READ LOTS MORE ...

Read More

From The Daily Muse

Attorney Mary Russell, Founder of Stock Option Counsel based in San Francisco, advises that anyone receiving equity compensation should evaluate the company and offer based on his or her own independent analysis. This means thoughtfully looking at the company’scapitalization and valuation.

Read More

Skype Repurchase Rights = Vampire Capitalism

I agree that it is unethical as it goes against the expectation of employees as to how their contributions are valued. If they don't know about it before they choose the company, they are making a choice without an essential term of the deal.

And it goes against the most idealistic ethic of Silicon Valley – that capitalism should be used by groups to organize and cultivate their own creative efforts rather than as a tool of vampires.

But it is not illegal. And I've seen worse in my Stock Option Counsel practice (twice this month alone). Congratulations on paying attention.

Read More

Best of Blogs: How to Value and Negotiate Startup Stock Options

We have suggested the following free resources to Stock Option Counsel clients to help them master this area and gain confidence in negotiating their stock options and other employee stock. We hope you find this list helpful and invite you to contact us to find out how Stock Option Counsel can help you evaluate and maximize your startup stock compensation. Contact>

1. David Weekly's  An Introduction to Stock & Options for the Tech Entrepreneur or Startup Employee

2. Venture Hacks' I have a job offer at a startup, am I getting a good deal?

3. Andy Payne's Startup Equity for Employees 

4. John Greathouse's What The Heck Are My Startup Stock Options Worth?! Seven Questions You Should Ask Before Joining A Startup

5. Wealthfront's Startup Salary and Equity Compensation Calculator (This is very general but people find it helpful.) And Wealthfront's The Right Way to Grant Equity to Your Employees.

6. Patrick McKenzie of Kalzumeus Software's Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued

7. Piaw Na's Negotiating Compensation, from An Engineer's Guide to Silicon Valley Startups

8. mystockoptions.com's How does a private company decide on the size of a stock grant? (You may have to create a login)  

9. Michelle Wetzler's How I Negotiated My Startup Compensation

10. Mary Russell's Video Negotiate the Right Startup Stock Option Offer, based on Mary Russell and Boris Epstein's Bull's Eye: Negotiate the Right Job Offer

11. Robby Grossman's Negotiating Your Startup Job Offer

12. Mary Russell's Joining An Early Stage Startup? Negotiate Your Salary and Equity with Stock Option Counsel Tips

13. Mary Russell's RSUs: Startup Restricted Stock Units: What You Need to Know

Need more help? Stock Option Counsel provides legal services for employees, executives and independent contractors. Employees and executives rely on Stock Option Counsel's expert advice in their startup stock option matters to correct the imbalance of information and expertise in this area that can cause the uninformed to lose out on high value opportunities. We counsel clients during their compensation negotiations, their exercise choices and the sale of their shares. We also work with clients who are in disputes with employers or cofounders regarding their stock options, other equity compensation or intellectual property and help them resolve the issues in their favor.

Contact> us if you are interested in Stock Option Counsel. It works best to set up a 15 minute call so we can hear about your situation and describe how we would help as Stock Option Counsel. Alternatively, you can send us a message with your questions and we will respond and tell you how Stock Option Counsel could be valuable to you. Contact>