Paid in Stock

Hey Jow Forums. I interviewed for a job at a tech startup and they want to pay me in stock options and won't pay me cash until I'm there at least 3 months. Is this a scam? I know that some companies make it big and end up making their employees millionaires but also lots of them fail. What should i do?

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100% a scam, also i bet its vested over 5 years too. stay away or you will end up working for them for free

Need more details. How old is the company? What employee number would you be? What’s their fundraising status? How much equity are they offering and what’s the vesting schedule?

It's a small startup in nyc but they're working with really cutting edge technology that no one really uses yet. No more than like 20 employees. Few professionals there that have lots of experience and get the same compensation.

That answered one of my questions. How did you even get offered a job with such poor reading comprehension? Anyway with 20 employees if they've raised at 15 mil+ and aren't going to pay you for 3 months I'd expect at the very least .35-.5% equity vested over 3-4 years. If you're a dev I might expect .5-1%.

can't they just print themselves more shares and make your shares worthless while it's a private company?
anyway, OP if they have no money it's because VCs thought the idea was dumb and no one was willing to risk money on them.

Why don't you just get knee pads and suck cock? And put the money you make from that into stock options?

Yes. Scam. They don’t have money or are going broke. Always get paid. If it was so good they could give options and pay you.

99% of these fail you’ll end up working for free

Don't do it. I did this for someone that had backers and worked for Disney Uber and a couple other places and never received anything. We even had a lead engineer from Amazon and another from FB that worked under him at Disney.

I revised my contract on signing so that I owned all the work that I did until compensation could be realized at a minimum USD value though so at least I have been able to show the work to other clients.

This, always ask for for some kind of funds.

not necessarily. if op's work is really good and they become billinoaires, they'll throw op a bone.
if they become a failure (99.999% chance) op really get nothing.


all in all, stay the fuck away.

founding a startup and paying in equity = if there's failure, it's 'socialized'. if there's success, it overwhelmingly goes to the founder.

this is an insane red flag, they have no capital to pay, that means they couldn't get decent funding so the idea itself probably isn't even profitable at all.

>can't they just print themselves more shares and make your shares worthless while it's a private company?

That's not how it works. If they emit more shares they are legally obligated to offer them at the same price to all shareholders.

In OPTIONS? If they were in equity yea but option? Seems shady

>when your job is a speculative shitcoin

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Just go work for a decentralized coin at that point.

No, that's not at all how stock works. The stock pool only changes when you raise capital, which inherently makes your shares worth more though you'll own a smaller % of the pie.

In addition to what other anons are saying, this is actually illegal. Minimum wage must be paid in cash or cash equivalents, which options certainly are not. Keep in mind that even if you exercise your options - which costs YOU money - you can't sell them on an open market unless the Company registers its shares with the SEC, aka IPOs, which happens only for a vanishingly small percentage of companies and normally 5-10 years post-formation. You could theoretically sell them to a third party accredited investor (or back to the Company, if they're willing to buy them), but good fucking luck.

fug

This is absolutely incorrect. The (theoretical) value of your stock is based on the valuation of the Company, and downrounds (wherein valuation decreases) are possible; the effect is straight dilution, particularly to Common holders who have virtually no protections.

False.

Theoretically yes, although normally there are contractual protections in place, at least insofar as preferred holders are concerned. Depending on where the company is incorporated (which does not need to be NY, even if they are based in NY), there may also be statutory protections, but almost always this is surmountable by simple common majority (which the founders will almost certainly retain).

t. corporate lawyer (but not your corporate lawyer; answering these questions purely for fun and not giving any advice at all to anyone in this thread)

3 months isnt long. Its a startup so they are getting people invested in the company as a passion and not just a job. Sounds like u are a simple wagie who cant see big potential in a company.

Decide if they really have a great product that will make money in the future and stay. U could end up being first in on an incredible company.

Fuck of wagie lawyer. Your job will soon be automated with smart contracts.

Plenty of shit tier commercial contracts lawyers will be, yes, but not my job. Not for another 15-20 years, and I'll be long retired by then.

Also fuck you, sorry we're not all NEET fags who blew our load on worthless shitcoins.

wake the fuck up

maybe 1000 ppl got rich this way in america vs the hundreds of MILLIONS who fail

you WILL fall

If you genuinely believe in the company then of course. Why would you join a startup otherwise?