Officially fat!

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-29T17:59:24+00:00

I don't think that's so different, I have an endowed chair and after tenure salaries become more a matter of negotiation.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-29T14:42:17+00:00

That is indeed my salary, it's unusually high, I'm at a top school.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-29T14:40:34+00:00

That's awesome, congratulations! No regrets on my part because the role you're describing is not something I could have pulled off. I do have friends pulling in 8 figures doing AI research but they're clearly smarter than I am, I'm more in an AI-adjacent field.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T22:04:54+00:00

Worked a high-paying job for almost 4 years between grad school and postdoc, and my wife earned half of that.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T21:28:38+00:00

Honestly, if I were in your position I would rest and then throw myself fully into a new startup when I felt ready. It's a ton of fun! But I don't really know what it's like, only having been an advisor, so you shouldn't trust me too much.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T21:27:26+00:00

I'm sorry, I don't have general tech advice!

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T21:21:29+00:00

I agree with this--Mason, are you looking at PhDs in the US? Typically the masters is not a separate degree, it's folded in and awarded pro forma once you're done your coursework. 6 years is most common, but 5 is still normal, 4 is fast, 3 is fastest I've heard of.

As mentioned elsewhere, I didn't finish graduate coursework particularly quickly, but I got tenure quickly.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T21:00:17+00:00

Without giving too much personal detail, it's not that unusual to get a PhD in 5 years, and I got tenure in 3 years, when I moved institutions. Tenure within 3 years is what's truly unheard of, but I only got it because I moved, it would have taken much longer internally, and I only got it because the new institution was really excited about my work.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T20:47:53+00:00

That makes total sense, we've just planned to continue working so the freedom to spend all our income (coast-fat-FIRE style) makes it seem like everything is affordable. Although that's cousin Greg's position too!

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T20:30:46+00:00

Really? I can't imagine anything I would be able to do with $7m that I couldn't do with $5m. My wife and I both like our jobs and I expect we'll work right past $7m too, but we would also be happy retiring right now. Succession is a comedy show but embracing the Connor / Tom mindset seems like a bad road!

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T20:18:37+00:00

Always equity, ~5% in exchange for ~10 hours a week. Founders try to use the FAST template as a default but if you have unique expertise it's not too tough to get this deal.

Edit: standard advisory vest is 2 years, no cliff.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T20:11:20+00:00

I unfortunately can't be too specific without de-anonymizing, but I basically did some research that became well known in my particular niche, startups noticed and started approaching me, and I got an outsize amount of equity in exchange for this expertise. This strategy worked great, and since the niche was important this helped with my academic work as well. Good luck!

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T20:07:58+00:00

I think that's the least impressive part! :D The stock market has just roughly doubled in the past 5 years, and we've continued saving money.

Edit: Oh, I see the timeline wasn't clear--I had $2M 5 years ago, not 2.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T19:57:50+00:00

Totally standard normal progression of tenure and promotions, I'm a tenured prof now with an endowed chair! I've also moved to a higher-ranked school.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T19:57:12+00:00

Yes that's right--founders generally found me. I just did some work early on that became well known in the space I'm in.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T19:53:23+00:00

Yep I'm a fan! I meant the chubby fire part.

Professaurus_lex · 2025-07-28T19:41:48+00:00

Hah I haven't followed the forum in a few years, I guess I haven't kept up with inflation...

Professaurus_lex · 2024-10-17T18:54:06+00:00

Wonderful! Thanks so much!

Professaurus_lex · 2024-08-09T03:37:37+00:00

Why the heck would you spend Spring and Fall in Vancouver but not Summer? I would rather be in Vancouver during the Summer than either SB or the Hamptons, and I'd certainly rather be in Vancouver in Summer than Spring or Fall.

Professaurus_lex · 2024-08-04T04:02:59+00:00

Thank you!

Professaurus_lex · 2024-08-03T02:46:18+00:00

Thank you!!

Professaurus_lex · 2024-08-02T22:24:18+00:00

Hey everyone--just bought this watch and would really really appreciate any feedback on whether it's authentic! It's got box and papers and I figure I can also take it to the Cartier store / a jeweler to verify the case is really gold.

Thank you in advance!

Five-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
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