9 ms·

How much money do you actually need though? I’ve worked for 5 startups now and my equity payout has been 0, 0, 0, 0, and now I stand I make low 7 figures from

How much money do you actually need though? I’ve worked for 5 startups now and my equity payout has been 0, 0, 0, 0, and now I stand I make low 7 figures from the equity on this last company (publicly traded now). During those startups the following happened: - I saw my nieces and nephews so little they forgot my name. They were young, sure, but it still stung when they look at you like a stranger - Messed up a 8+ year relationship with my significant other and we haven’t talked in years - Let my student debt pile up to take on more equity than salary (dumbass idea for the record) - Lost friends along the way because I could never do anything - Missed many family/friends birthdays as I was working - Worked 80 hour weeks for a long time What did I feel after I saw my equity/stock rise to above 7 figures? Stupidity. I gave up a lot on my journey and money can’t get it back, in fact, the money I stand to earn doesn’t enable me to do much more than what my salary already does. I can travel, eat well, have luxury goods if I want (I’m not that type of person but anyways), and so forth. My point being that this was a.) self-inflicted and b.) not worth the combined opportunity cost of all of those years. So for every “friend” who made lots of money at Uber or other places, there’s a story like me or a story where someone’s never made anything from equity because profitable exits are fucking hard

9erdelta 6y ago
Working ridiculous hours at a startup (I can barely remember anything from 2016) really drove home to me that time is way way way way way more valuable than money. Use it wisely (unfortunately wisdom is hard to get before the time has been wasted). Took a few years to get out of startups but I'm out (ish) now and I'm way more picky about how much time I'll work on something these days.
cmorgan31 6y ago
Well we also don't open up about mistakes as often as successes. I'll share mine which is a mixture of both. The article is basically a rehash of my experience in a start up as the first engineer for a technical founder. I spent the next 6 years growing the company, my skills, and my experiences. I was constantly provided more salary and stock options until I had so many options I could not reasonably exercise them without taking on massive risk. I had to consistently request the status of the option pool to even know what percentage I was granted. When I left the company I effectively had 3 months (Nov 2019 - Feb 2020) to make a decision. I'm personally glad I was conservative and did not exercise them given the outcome of COVID in the US. I don't regret taking that job at all as it helped me become a very skilled technology professional despite not having a prestigious educational background. It opened new doors which would have otherwise been closed until I had an equal opportunity to prove myself at scale. I do regret the extra hours worked which led to burn out and health issues as well as not being more bullish on salary until later in my career.
justinclift 6y ago
> ... now I stand I make low 7 figures from the equity on this last company (publicly traded now). Isn't that a "never need to work again" situation though? eg, you've effectively freed up your future to put time into whatever you want?
- svachalek 6y ago
  3% is a pretty good rule of thumb for perpetual withdrawal rate. If it's say $1M after taxes, that means $30k/yr. This is enough to retire on but only if you're willing to make lifestyle changes. Probably not that hard to do if you're 30 and single and renting, but married with kids and a mortgage it's a tough sell. (Obviously as your raise the definition of "low 7 figures" this can change dramatically)
  - gowld 6y ago
    If you're married and retired then your partner can work and you can be primary homemaker. $60K is just enough to pay for a modest house if you're friends with HN types, though.
- phone8675309 6y ago
  Low 7 figures to me would be between $1,000,000 and $3,000,000. I don't think that I would call that "never need to work again" money. It's between 10 and 30 years of my salary. A good lump sum to stash in the retirement fund. Maybe retire at 55 instead of 65, but definitely not "never need to work again" money.
  - icedchai 6y ago
    It depends on your lifestyle. If you ask the early retirement / FIRE forums, they'll tell you you're good to go. If you have 2 million, you can conservatively (meaning a low 3% - 4% withdrawal rate) take out 60k to 80k a year in perpetuity. Can you live on 60k - 80k a year? Consider you'll be paying a lot less in taxes since it's all capital gains. If your normal salary was 100k ish, you probably can.
  - 6y ago

9erdelta 6y ago

Working ridiculous hours at a startup (I can barely remember anything from 2016) really drove home to me that time is way way way way way more valuable than money. Use it wisely (unfortunately wisdom is hard to get before the time has been wasted). Took a few years to get out of startups but I'm out (ish) now and I'm way more picky about how much time I'll work on something these days.

cmorgan31 6y ago

Well we also don't open up about mistakes as often as successes. I'll share mine which is a mixture of both. The article is basically a rehash of my experience in a start up as the first engineer for a technical founder. I spent the next 6 years growing the company, my skills, and my experiences. I was constantly provided more salary and stock options until I had so many options I could not reasonably exercise them without taking on massive risk. I had to consistently request the status of the option pool to even know what percentage I was granted. When I left the company I effectively had 3 months (Nov 2019 - Feb 2020) to make a decision. I'm personally glad I was conservative and did not exercise them given the outcome of COVID in the US. I don't regret taking that job at all as it helped me become a very skilled technology professional despite not having a prestigious educational background. It opened new doors which would have otherwise been closed until I had an equal opportunity to prove myself at scale. I do regret the extra hours worked which led to burn out and health issues as well as not being more bullish on salary until later in my career.

justinclift 6y ago

> ... now I stand I make low 7 figures from the equity on this last company (publicly traded now). Isn't that a "never need to work again" situation though? eg, you've effectively freed up your future to put time into whatever you want?

svachalek 6y ago
3% is a pretty good rule of thumb for perpetual withdrawal rate. If it's say $1M after taxes, that means $30k/yr. This is enough to retire on but only if you're willing to make lifestyle changes. Probably not that hard to do if you're 30 and single and renting, but married with kids and a mortgage it's a tough sell. (Obviously as your raise the definition of "low 7 figures" this can change dramatically)
- gowld 6y ago
  If you're married and retired then your partner can work and you can be primary homemaker. $60K is just enough to pay for a modest house if you're friends with HN types, though.
phone8675309 6y ago
Low 7 figures to me would be between $1,000,000 and $3,000,000. I don't think that I would call that "never need to work again" money. It's between 10 and 30 years of my salary. A good lump sum to stash in the retirement fund. Maybe retire at 55 instead of 65, but definitely not "never need to work again" money.
- icedchai 6y ago
  It depends on your lifestyle. If you ask the early retirement / FIRE forums, they'll tell you you're good to go. If you have 2 million, you can conservatively (meaning a low 3% - 4% withdrawal rate) take out 60k to 80k a year in perpetuity. Can you live on 60k - 80k a year? Consider you'll be paying a lot less in taxes since it's all capital gains. If your normal salary was 100k ish, you probably can.
- 6y ago