Buzz
Picture this: You’ve secured a job at a startup. While the salary might not be top-tier (since it’s a startup), they offer you equity. Here’s the meaning of that offer and its potential worth.
Startups frequently provide equity to new employees, essentially offering a slice of ownership in the company—though it’s usually a small share. If the company flourishes and generates significant profit, those shares could be quite valuable. However, if success isn’t in the cards, your equity may not amount to much.
A website named SalaryorEquity.com can assist in estimating your equity’s worth in dollar terms. The creators, Natalia Rodriguez and Matt Wallaert, developed the site after assisting a friend through this very scenario.
“When Natalia and I were brainstorming projects to collaborate on, this idea came to mind,” Wallaert shared. “She crafted a clean, simple design and handled all the coding, allowing the site to function client-side without any data being transmitted to us.”
The broader issue, he points out, is the inequity in tech:
Women are less likely to accept offers with equity compared to those with just a cash salary, and that’s detrimental to the tech industry. It means there are fewer women with significant exit payouts, and consequently, less of that money circulates back as angel funding, where women tend to support other women more than their male counterparts (due to the pervasive sexism in the field). It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken. Hence, this tool exists.
To use the tool, you will need to know both the company’s valuation and any funding they have secured. Sometimes, this info is provided in your offer letter, but it’s often not, meaning you’ll need to ask the startup for it.
“If they refuse to provide the details, consider it a red flag—if they’re willing to pay you but not share basic facts to help you assess the offer, that’s not an open culture,” Wallaert remarked.
Once you input this data into the tool, it will process the numbers and provide you with an estimate of what your equity is worth in salary terms. To give it a try, follow the link below.
