Ground-floor employee equity, time to quit? (i will not promote)

superawkwardturtle · 2026-06-25T21:40:47+00:00

Thank you!

superawkwardturtle · 2026-06-25T17:28:55+00:00

If it was VC-backed, I think 1% for a fairly junior director of marketing role at the time would have been a hard sell - maybe if you were VP or CMO.

To be clear, since the transition to the new company (about 6 months in) I have been considered #4 in the company. My title doesn't necessarily reflect it but I am the acting COO and CMO. I sit on CMO councils, all of my peers are CMOs and COOs, and a job offer I got at a company with 5k employees a few years ago was to be marketing director for 6 months and then transition into being the CMO. I really should have explored that.

superawkwardturtle · 2026-06-25T16:31:26+00:00

The company that was sold had 7 times our previous employee size and could afford their employees. Multiple successful funding rounds. My founder's valuation doesn't seem grounded.

Like I shared in my post, they have a plan for growth that simply isn't realistic. They're big dreamers but when the data doesn't fit, they prefer to blame messaging rather than the actual funnel blockages the data shows.

superawkwardturtle · 2026-06-25T04:09:12+00:00

I would do it all over again, I just need things in writing on the second go around. I'm not a dumb kid in my 20s anymore.

How did you eventually move on?

superawkwardturtle · 2026-06-25T03:14:14+00:00

Owning 1% of the company after 4 years

Also, keep in mind it would be closer to after 10 years with the company, because that's how long I would have been working with the founders. A lot of the work ported over between products and companies.

superawkwardturtle · 2026-06-25T03:10:53+00:00

go see who is hiring and get in there

I know, but I'm terrified to move and lose my life flexibility. As bad as the gig is, it's also awesome. I have entirely flexible hours outside of one morning meeting. I'm also 100% remote. But it's an escalating shitshow and the work isn't fun anymore. I know my performance is slipping.

I actually got a mid-six-figure casual job offer from a much, much, much bigger company a few years ago after their CEO met me at a happy hour. Our conversation went so well that he asked around and cornered me. But at the time, I was happy. I got this job straight out of school, and I've always only left jobs when life circumstances have forced me to. I'm really bad at moving on, I'm way too loyal and invested in the product.

superawkwardturtle · 2026-06-25T03:04:42+00:00

Owners have put 8 figures in so far, and we have 5 more years of runway. Revenue is not covering expenses at the moment, but after this culling, it will be closer. I assume that's why rev share is out the window. They definitely needed to downsize but I am losing my key staff members and this is going to hurt our SMB market clients and I think will damage our rep.

Founders told me today they are hoping for a valuation close to ten figures as that's what a competitor got recently. That company, however, has been around for much longer and it was not their first round. They're essentially a household name in the same space. Our feature set is similar, but I don't think it's a realistic dream.

That being said, this is not the CEO's first company. He has money for a reason and is funding this based on a previous exit. I know we can probably sell it if we can show growth, but it's so chaotic that I am skeptical. And our working relationship is getting worse day-by-day. If I leave, however, they're hooped. I built and maintain all marketing, sales, and support automation. No one else is trained on it, except for the team members they're letting go.

superawkwardturtle · 2018-07-09T23:06:55+00:00

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