[elastic_church]

I actually like private company RSUs and the lack of data around them.

I can get super amazing offers from Microsoft of Google who will throw RSUs at me based on the assumption I actually had such great offers from the last company, even if it is private.

The secret is to tell them that there's a huge secondary market and lots of liquidity. There, the secret's out, they have no way of verifying, and the secondary market for private tech company shares is a huge and growing and fragmented area.

So at first they'll try to low ball you because you weren't with a "unicorn IPO". But then you reveal all the liquidity you have and thats that

[acchow]

You really think Google is this naive?

They are fully aware there's a stupid dance around negotiations and they don't really care which routine you choose to take.

[elastic_church]

Naive? This is exactly what they do. If you come over from Facebook and Google offers you the standard RSU package, but you let them know what kind of vesting RSU packing you already have, they'll up the ante.

Sounds like you are more uncomfortable with the idea that some people don't have to work for the same outcome.

[acchow]

I was disagreeing with your sentiment "I actually like private company RSUs and the lack of data around them." as if the ambiguity of pre-IPO RSU value somehow empowers you in negotiations.

Google is not naive - they won't fall for any neat trick about "a huge secondary market and lots of liquidity". You aren't getting a higher offer after a low-ball because you used your black-box RSUs to negotiate.

You could simply decline their offer and tell them it's not enough. Negotiate hard by declining repeatedly - it will take weeks, but stay strong. Eventually you'll end up at the same much-higher result.

That's what I meant by the "dance". Initial offers will always be a low-ball. They just want the non-negotiators to accept the low-ball. But they'll negotiate with the negotiators and your technique won't get you a different result - whether it's repeatedly declining, or using pre-IPO RSUs, or even lying about your other offers (which they can't verify anyway) - it's just a dance. You'll end up at the same place.