I pretty much try to look at every issue from what I could've done better viewpoint - doing the same here. So no offense:
- as a small company CEO, you get less leeway in terms of who you can hire. So there is a high chance his hands were tied and the on paper experience folk probably looked much better than a really really good newbie. Think about it from the perspective of a lay person or busy board member: it's pretty much like how you'd choose a cardiologist. You gotta play the numbers unless you have some great insider scoop. Playing safe is a sad reality :/
- if you really had the ceo ear as you say and carte blanche, you have a part in not making that a productive setup: a ton of people would love to be in that spot, probably would produce more too.
- at the end of the day, your only irreplaceable value in life is your time. By messing around with 'cool projects' that didn't mean much, the biggest loss here is yours.
- ratholing again on the privilege part, if you were that established, no lifer would've been able to affect you that much. There is probably a miscalibration here in your opinion of yourself.
Again - really no offense. Just what I would take away if it were me.
On the loss of time: true, but as I said my equity appreciated significantly, at the current valuation (I am very aware of all our details about funding terms, dilutions etc, so I can calculate a reasonably accurate average case outcome) my total compensation is essentially $1M a year without even counting for possible future growth, and FAANG offered me basically 40% of that, so it’s wise for me to stay put at least until I see the company significantly doing worse. I wouldn’t necessarily consider that sum of money something worth throwing away just for the sake of making a better use of my time. The day I’ll see the probability of my equity becoming zero rise significantly, I’ll leave in a heartbeat, that’s why I interviewed with several FAANG companies over the past 12 months, so I always have the doors open when it’s time.
The cool projects don’t mean much to the company but mean a lot to me, since I’m sharpening my skills in areas that I would bring with me to another career opportunity (e.g. machine learning in a project, and low level system programming in another one).
On the miscalibration: that’s certainly possible, I’ve tried to write facts more than opinions explicitly to avoid that, and all the things they told me indeed happened (e.g. founder said I was the only one to be considered for VP, former team members saying it was so much better when I was leading the team, ...).
Good job on the comp haul. You made exactly the right call staying considering the options were only 40%! Feel free to ignore my points about making yourself useful if that will disturb the status ka'ching quo.
Thanks for the civil convo. Clearly you have put a lot of thought into this and I wish you all the best! FWIW, money is never a waste on smart people :). Money is freedom and an amplifier. I hope you find good uses for the same!
- as a small company CEO, you get less leeway in terms of who you can hire. So there is a high chance his hands were tied and the on paper experience folk probably looked much better than a really really good newbie. Think about it from the perspective of a lay person or busy board member: it's pretty much like how you'd choose a cardiologist. You gotta play the numbers unless you have some great insider scoop. Playing safe is a sad reality :/
- if you really had the ceo ear as you say and carte blanche, you have a part in not making that a productive setup: a ton of people would love to be in that spot, probably would produce more too.
- at the end of the day, your only irreplaceable value in life is your time. By messing around with 'cool projects' that didn't mean much, the biggest loss here is yours.
- ratholing again on the privilege part, if you were that established, no lifer would've been able to affect you that much. There is probably a miscalibration here in your opinion of yourself.
Again - really no offense. Just what I would take away if it were me.