But with future rounds of dilutions, VC liquidation preferences, etc. The % can be diluted to near nothing very quickly.

Sure, but why not disclose them if you claim to be transparent?

Because it would drive everyone crazy

Especially employees #10 and later

What I meant is doesn't matter what the % is. It can be meaningless after a few rounds of funding.

But it's still useful for comparisons

that's the point of transparency, isn't it?

So everyone cam compare themselves to the others

I personally know a few early engineers whose companies sold for hundreds of MM but they got a very pathetic returns.

If you are paid the same as someone but that person has five times your equity, you are rightfully going to wonder why

I agree with you on the transparency side. I just believe you should not put too much weight on the equity % side 🙂

It is important!

It reflects how the company values you

compared to your peers

The dollar figure is irrelevant

Agree on this importance. The end results might disappoint. That's all I'm saying 🙂

if I were working in HR, I'd run away from a company that has a compensation salary transparency policy 🙂

I feel I'd spend my time explaining why things are the way they are to an endless line of irate employees wondering why they make less than their colleague

At Google, FB, they have levels. L4, L5, E4, E5, they have the salary ranges. Do you think they are transparent or not?

They are not.

Why not? I'm curious since each L5 knows how much approximately the other L5 is making.

For all the reasons I gave above

because it's an HR nightmare

and really detrimental to everyone, employees included

There's a reason why pretty much no companies are transparent on compensations.

Thanks! Another question: I find it very hard to hire engineers from FANG companies because they basically need to cut their compensation in half to join a startup. I'd like to know your thoughts about startup hiring. Obviously matching FANG compensation is not an option.

You can talk about impact and future growth, but when come to the $ number, they won't back off.

Yeah it's a typical problem. If they are motivated enough by the start up, they'll take more equity instead, but that's a trend that's been going down these past 20 years after the bubble bursts

And I don't think this is healthy for the whole industry where FANG just overpay all the engineers they want to get.

also there's usually promise of catch up when new rounds come in