This is a cross post at the suggestion of the helpful folks over on the "ask a mustachian" board. Here is the link to my original thread:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/startup-experience-i-need-a-little-advice!/msg25594/#msg25594Basic gist of the story. I am working as R&D (aka... spously slave labor) for my husband. He currently works a comfortable job in pharma advertising, but his heart is into more creative endeavors. He started his own company a while back that failed, and before that worked at a big casual game company that made millions off of one of his games, which has been a perennial best seller for 4 years. All he had to show for it was a pink slip at the end... Sooo we are a little wary of this whole process at this point (long story short)
Enter the start-up. Good programmer friend from big game company has been brought in as a founder at a Silcon Valley startup with very very deep pockets and connections to some pretty big hitters in the industry. He only wants to work with my husband as the creative side of the team, so they are offering him a position as artist/game experience designer #1.
pros
work from home/see the kids more
good team
great product
satisfying work
cons
30% less pay
50,000 in stock options can easily be worthless (we only make money on these if the company gets bought or goes public, right?)
many ways to lose out on this--even if they succeed in selling the game for tons--but it seems like not many ways to win
10 fewer vacation days (15 vs currently 23)
health benefits sketchy (haven't been nailed down yet)
very strict clause against doing other freelance projects to make up for the 30k loss our family will be feeling from the salary difference
so my question boils down to this. Is there ANY way we end up NOT being chumps in this deal? Do you think a 30k pay cut with the questionable value of stock options is worth it for the contacts? We are established professionals with little kids.. well beyond just "getting experience"Is asking to be brought in as a founder a pointless quest? He is artist #1, employee #2... he will be building this thing from nothing along with the programmer. Should we ask for more stock? (they are offering 50k) I think they've been through series A funding but not sure how many rounds to go. 4 big investors are backing this, so I don't know how much preference there is.