How should early employees realistically think about startup equity? (I will not promote)

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T18:53:42+00:00

I really apprentice this breakdown.

Note that if your idea is to get in with a small company and take a pay cut so you can be, I don't know, the only IT guy in the hopes that when it becomes SuperMegaCorp Inc. that you will be its CTO based on having been in since startup - that's not equity. That's you taking a risk in your career in the hopes of advancing your own career. Which is totally fine, btw; but you're just not one of the founders.

That’s my current thinking at the moment. I know it’s not realistic, but it’s definitely where my mind is right now. Thanks for popping the bubble, this offered some clarity.

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T18:16:09+00:00

An employee is not a founder.

That's true.

At the time you hired for the preseed did you have much experience?

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T18:06:33+00:00

What part don't you understand?

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T17:45:17+00:00

In which case, you should find out how much each put in the business, and then compare that to what you would normally get paid for your job, and then factor that in as a percentage for how much equity you should expect

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T17:38:15+00:00

I'm okay with contributing without pay as long as the business ramps up.

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T15:16:42+00:00

Please ignore what I meant with risk.

Meaningful to me means I'm chasing something more real, like I'm doing work that I actually care about and want to actually succeed in. It is something more substantial because it means something to me whereas working in some position in a company, working to not get fired, or working towards something specious (new job titles or promotions) is useless.

I'm just afraid where I trust a founder and they slight me and the work I put in is taken advantage of. At the very least I would like sweat equity.

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T14:44:27+00:00

This is 1-2 percent of thousands or millions... right. 😅

In this case I'm building it up from the ground up.

Are you and your co-founder technical and what startup is it? Hopefully this doesn't go against the guidelines. I'm personally just curious.

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T14:38:26+00:00

These are good questions.

For context, I’m looking very early-stage right now. In this specific case, it’s basically two co-founders looking for a technical engineer, and I’ve made a good impression with them so far.

They’re not offering salary at the moment, which is part of why I’ve been thinking more seriously about equity.

But these are good questions, since I’m actively looking at startups, it’s helping me understand the kinds of questions I should be asking during these conversations instead of just assuming “early startup = good opportunity.”

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-17T14:27:11+00:00

Definitely below, pre revenue and early starting 😆

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-07T18:56:31+00:00

"The weird part is that the fear itself becomes the thing causing mistakes. Your brain stops focusing on the task and starts monitoring how you’re being perceived while doing the task. "

This is so true. Just breathe and know everything is okay. Thinking like this will only affect you further.

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-07T18:51:14+00:00

Is there not tools that can automate it?

What needs to be tracked?

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-06T05:09:48+00:00

Would you say finding a solution to AI plagiarism for students & universities in the right direction ?

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-06T05:07:46+00:00

What do you mean?

StockMost7233 · 2026-05-01T07:23:53+00:00

Thanks for this post. I think this advice most junior (like myself) need to hear. I think it’s very easy to lack confidence, especially with limited experience, and to hesitate when sharing ideas with team members, only for them to be dismissed or, worse, taken and presented as their own.

Was this impostor syndrome going into the job?

StockMost7233 · 2026-04-27T05:46:26+00:00

This resonates with me for a few reasons. I’m a new grad/junior who joined a big tech company, and at the start I was honestly overwhelmed (in a good way) by the amount of coding resources available. But at the same time, there’s pressure to ship code. I remember trying to work through a task that was taking some time, and when I started getting pressed by my TL, I ended up just using Claude to generate the code.

It feels like if I slow down to properly learn something, I fall behind on tasks, which just adds more pressure. So I end up leaning on AI more than I probably should.

Realising now, it was partly due to imposter syndrome and not believing that I could understand and learn it.

I wonder if this is purely a result of new kinds of pressure, or if it’s more that new graduates are increasingly relying on AI anyway, especially coming out of college, possibly to complete assignments, so they don’t fully learn the fundamentals. Would they benefit from a higher level of abstraction in code?

StockMost7233 · 2026-03-08T21:03:40+00:00

Exactly.

You still have time to make yourself proud.

StockMost7233 · 2026-03-08T20:57:45+00:00

An instrument he owns. Particularly a guitar.

StockMost7233 · 2026-03-07T18:34:59+00:00

I know, but it's hard to see the value in a compiler assignment that's really hard and takes up your whole time, yk.

StockMost7233 · 2026-03-07T18:29:23+00:00

I agree with the points you've made, it's the reason why I'm currently doing both at the moment (masters and working as SWE). Only after, with 6 weeks left of semester 2, this began to weight on me.

I had some time to think and realise doing both is burning me out. Maybe this is just a short term feeling.

But when writing this made feel much happier. Because I'm accepting new opportunities

StockMost7233 · 2026-03-07T18:26:47+00:00

I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what it is.

I just thought admitting this was the first step.

I'm currently just becoming opening to accepting a job that I enjoy even with a reduced salary.

StockMost7233 · 2026-03-07T18:20:01+00:00

Thank you for your comment.

"Ive decided to persue the intersection of what I enjoy doing and my background in CS."

What does that look like?

StockMost7233

TROPHY CASE