[dagw]

They're not paying $80k, they're paying $80k plus an equity lottery ticket that hopefully has a chance of being worth millions.

[bdcravens]

Statistically I think you have a better chance by taking a market rate job and then spending the difference on actual lottery tickets.

[bilsbie]

I almost never come across a startup I’d actually want a lottery ticket in.

The business models just seem naive or sometimes absurd.

[dagw]

Indeed, and guess this works as a secondary filter. They don't want people who don't truly believe in the company to apply. At an early stage start-up you want people that are passionate/naive/delusional enough to want to work lots of unpaid overtime.

[rchaud]

The value of the startup lottery ticket is based on how fast you can hire, how much hype you can build and how many users you can acquire. Most startups are a money pit, their only value is in acquiring their customer base.

[Ancalagon]

what is the proportion of YC startups that have had successful exits where the _employees_ received millions from their equity grants?

[TheCaptain4815]

Now that you mention it, what % of YC Startups even "succeed"? Would be fascinating to know. They're public about the companies that get accepted and you could have a few different criteria about what constitutes as success (getting funding? Existing 5 years later? etc)

[paulddraper]

I would expect that the first engineering employee of any of YC's "Top Companies" would have equity >$1M at time of exit.

There are currently ~350 Top Companies out of ~4000 all-time investments https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/yc-top-companies-feb-2023

So conservatively, 9%.

[pydry]

Not enough to justify an $80k salary.

[red-iron-pine]

Not in SV, for sure. If you're in KY it's pretty good. Can get a decent house for $190k, and as much land as you want. Gotta live in Kentucky tho.