How to evaluate a startup job offer as a senior hire

A startup offer for a senior role is rarely just a salary. There's base pay, maybe a dollar component, equity with its own rules, a title, a reporting line, and a company that may or may not exist in three years. Comparing two offers, or an offer against your current job, means pulling all of that apart.

Here's how to evaluate a startup job offer clearly, so you sign the right one for the right reasons.

Put the cash on one line

Start with what you'll actually be paid each month. If the offer mixes naira and dollars, convert everything to one currency on the same date, then do it again at a rate that's 20 percent worse. If the offer only works at today's exchange rate, it's a riskier offer than it looks.

Then add the things that cost money if they're missing: health insurance, pension contributions, a laptop, internet and power allowances for remote work. Two offers with the same base can be quite far apart once you count these. If you want context on what's normal, our piece on Nigeria tech salary data explains why public numbers are so unreliable.

Value the equity honestly

Equity is where most people either get excited or get lost. The honest starting point is that most startup equity ends up worth little or nothing, and a small amount ends up worth a lot. Treat it as a bonus that may pay out, not as part of your salary.

Ask these questions, and get the answers in writing. How many shares or options, and what percentage of the company does that represent today? What's the vesting schedule? Four years with a one-year cliff is common at startups, meaning nothing vests until your first anniversary and the rest vests monthly or quarterly after that. What's the strike price, and how long do you have to exercise options if you leave? What happens to unvested equity if the company is sold?

The Holloway Guide to Equity Compensation is free to read and explains these terms in far more detail than we can here. It's worth an evening before you negotiate.

Ask about runway and the last raise

You're entitled to ask how long the company can operate on the money it has, and when it last raised. A founder who won't give a straight answer to a senior candidate is telling you something. Twelve months or more of runway is comfortable; under six means the next raise matters a great deal to your job.

Ask who the investors are, too. Not because big names guarantee anything, but because it tells you who the founders answer to, and whether more money is likely to follow.

Look closely at the role itself

Title and reporting line shape the next few years more than a 10 percent difference in pay. Who will you report to? Will you have a team, or are you expected to build one? What does success look like at six months and at a year, in their words?

If the answer to "what does success look like?" is vague, that's a risk. If it's specific and you believe you can do it, that's the best sign you'll get. When a company has run a careful process, these answers are usually clear already; our guide to running a senior interview process describes what that looks like from their side.

Negotiate once, clearly

Pick the two or three things that matter most to you, whether that's base, currency, equity or title, and ask for them together in one conversation. Explain why. Founders respond better to one clear, reasoned ask than to a series of small ones.

And if you're senior and between roles, remember that the best offers often come before a role is posted. Our article on roles that are never posted explains how to get into those conversations, and NextMove can do most of the legwork with you.