I have found that in job negotiations, many startup founders are highly reluctant to discuss what the value of their stock option grant is worth, much less what other conditions may impact the payout.
Has anyone else had this experience and what do they advise others to do when faced with the dilemma of turning down an offer due to a lack of transparency into the option grant?
The best way to get information about this is to ask you question and then shut up. You'll get a BS answer first. Just sit there and don't say anything. Most people break down after 30 seconds and give up more information. The longer you keep your mouth shut the more you receive.
It's totally OK to say 'this doesn't seem like such a great deal.' Don't answer questions about what you want - just reply that you don't know enough about their financials to know what they could agree to, only what you can agree to. If it starts going round in circles, think of it as a preview of future experience and decide whether you want to be in that position.
Good advice. However, from a negotiation POV, it’s difficult since there are so many alternative people who only ask how many shares they will get, and think that more shares is better than less, rather than what they are worth. It’s comical. This makes it easy to just pick one of those people and skip the few who know what’s going on. For a founder or VC, this is like free money, since you can promise whatever you want ( 100 zillion shares) and pay them whatever is convenient. Eventually, this will erode the trust needed for Silicon Valley to work.
Has anyone else had this experience and what do they advise others to do when faced with the dilemma of turning down an offer due to a lack of transparency into the option grant?