[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.