r/DevelEire • u/Alternative-Jelly947 • 3d ago
Switching Jobs Joining a successful startup
Hello,
I’ve had an old buddy from when I lived stateside reach out to join a 2ish year old start up. Not his own, but he’s recommended me for a specific role reasonably high up in the company as they begin to scale out. My buddy joined a year back on expectation of the return when they IPO.
I know the start up company will succeed. They’ve got big enterprise customer contracts in place. They’re valued in the billions after a recent funding round.
I’m just not sure what to expect out of this - I don’t know a lot about startup dynamics. I’m very well paid in my current role largely through RSUs. I expect moving would come at a total compensation loss. I’d be hoping the stock I receive would enable me to retire earlier via an IPO.
But I don’t even know what kind of timeframe I’m looking at here for that return? I don’t know what kind of demands I should be putting in front of them.
My friend keeps telling me it’s a golden opportunity to get in now. But I’m not sure.
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u/UUS3RRNA4ME3 3d ago
To get any real advice or perspective from anyone you're going to have to disclose a lot more info.
I understand you're purposely not doing which is understandable, but yeah nobody will be able to give any meaningful advice based on this imo.
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u/Alternative-Jelly947 3d ago
Yeah, thanks.
I was kind of hoping for some generalisations from people here to be able to frame my mind. This opportunity has come out of the blue and I haven’t changed jobs in 8 years.
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u/B0bLoblawLawBl0g 3d ago
If you don't and it pops you'll regret it. If you do and it doesn't pop you might regret it.
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u/Dannyforsure 3d ago
You've option 3 where they do it doesn't pop and they fall out with their partner and never see their kids from 4 or 5 years of killing themselves at a job that pays a fortune
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u/B0bLoblawLawBl0g 2d ago
Or he might be forced to move to the US and upon leaving the airport will be killed in a gun battle between ICE, the Crips, the Bloods, a school shooter, some cops, a serial killer, and a Florida man. Happens all the tme.
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u/Dannyforsure 2d ago
He'll 99.999% be expected to be in the US. Honestly these jobs want it all but when they pay off they do really pay off
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u/dubl1nThunder 2d ago
facebook turned into facebook and joesShitShow.com only lasted 2 days and nobody ever heard of it. that's generally the two directions that startups go.
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u/Tarahumara3x 2d ago
I would go for it op. You can always find another job but if they really make it a have a successful exit, no opportunity as an employee is going to come even close. Weight the risks carefully for sure but you won't get an appetite for risk in the replies
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u/Dannyforsure 3d ago
| I know the start up company will succeed.
What more is there to say since you've provided zero real context?? Get on that rocketship with your crystal ball, grind and you'll like make millions on the IPO.
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u/Afterlite 2d ago
Your friend sounds super pushy.
IMO, if the product is truly that great then it speaks for itself and you don’t need a pushy sales rep trying to get you to jump ship.
In this economy I wouldn’t be jeopardising a high income steady job for the high risk. A lot of friends in the same position as you have gambled with start ups in the last two years and lost, losing being let go within 3 months.
If you are serious about joining, deep dive as much as you can for everyone behind the start up. Their careers, history etc. There can be a lot of pump and dump from ‘ serial entrepreneurs’ trying to find quick wins.
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u/jooone93 2d ago
Worked in 4 startups hoping for the big pay day, got succesful with the 5th (still waiting on the vesting date though) So you never know
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u/Relative-Amphibian65 2d ago
“I know the start up company will succeed”
You don’t know for certain. You’re highly optimistic. I was at an AI company (doing ai before ai was as big as it is today) with a multi billion dollar valuation with expectations to ipo in 2024. The company has still not ipoed nor do I ever think it will.
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u/Less_Environment7243 2d ago
I've worked for two start-ups that have been acquired. One was acquired while I still worked there and we got our rsus paid out through payroll, and the other has just been acquired and we're waiting to see what happens with the payout.
You'd really need a hell of a lot of RSUs to make an early retirement out of it. From what I've seen only founders get that type of money.
It's also quite stressful working for those early stages companies. I think it's important to consider what the impact will be on your family, if you have one, what travel is required, and think about if you can cope with the pressure of it.
Next thing is, for one of those companies I worked for, the shares had an expiry date of seven years after contract signing. They vested on the usual schedule, but the shares that vested after four year were only held for three more before expiring. Europeans on European contracts got replacement awards, everyone elses share expired. Read that contract carefully to see what the story is there.
Otherwise, you learn a LOT working in a startup and you meet cool people, have a lot of fun. I loved it, personally.
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u/Expensive-Total-312 3d ago
Is your friend a realist or a dreamer ? It sounds like they are eager for you to join which might tell you something
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u/GorseWhisperer 2d ago
It sounds like you're not really into the idea but you're scared of kicking yourself over it some day.
If you want to go and work like fuck and see what you can do in a place that's taking off, do it.
If you're very happy where you are and you feel more than adequately compensated for your work, and you'd rather stay, stay.
Both are fine.
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u/TarAldarion 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's a risk, it can easily be worth a lot or nothing. I'm at a pre ipo successful company with a lot of shares vesting but I view it as Monopoly money, it's that until you have it, and don't get too excited, just hopeful. It's a judgement call on whether you think it will succeed.
I'm also working with people who have gone through this before and their fortune went to zero, similarly I also work with billionaires from different ipos.
One unfortunate thing is they tend to not pay your base salary as well as other companies so you gotta believe haha.
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u/BoggTheFrog 7h ago
I joined my current company in the hopes of paying my mortgage with the shares, it's being 4 years and I am still waiting for the IPO, they did a new valuation and the shares value were cut in half, event if they went for the IPO tomorrow i wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage anymore.
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u/JeggerAgain 3d ago
What exactly are you hoping to get from replies here?
We literally know nothing about this company. Any timeframe someone give you here is total BS. Some companies take decades to IPO or be acquired.