[jjav]

> I guess you're looking in the wrong places.

It's possible! I live in the silicon valley bubble.

I've worked for 5 startups (and had offers from about ~5 more to know what they would've paid). None have been close to total comp at a public company.

All of them have been very competitive (or even higher!) on base salary.

But there's no recurring RSUs in a startup (since there is no stock to trade), and rarely bonuses. So total comp is about 30-40% of my total comp when working at public companies.