Ask HN: Talent acquisition, how much are we worth? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Talent acquisition, how much are we worth?

A company is interested in doing a talent acquisition of our startup. I don't know how to value each of us, but I think the HN community could explain what typical deals look like regarding initial cash, stock options and earn-out periods. I don't want to undersell myself, nor do I want to look like a greedy fool.

I'm begin vague and using a throwaway account for obvious reasons.

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How many people are being acquired?

What is the nature of their skills (what areas of expertise and what level of expertise)?

How long will you have to work for the acquiring company?

2 people. I'm both a designer and a developer, I guess a unique combination where I can program an app and make it look very good and usable. The other is strictly a developer.

I don't know about the last question yet since I'm sure that would be part of the negotiation. What's typical?

Do you have any products at all, is there is a product in the pipeline that will be finished or scrapped or is it an all out talent acquisition? How rare are your skills you say development and design, but is it Ruby, Java, Objective-C? To me if it is totally a talent acquisition and your company has no product and no product on the horizon then you really have nothing to lose other than income from contracting (assuming that is what you are doing). That being said and if it is the case, I would figure out what I believe that I could realistically earn annually, take out health and other perks, make sure their are some options and ask for that rate along with some up front money say a half a years salary for the risk and lost opportunity. IF you have a rare skill and are in a tight market you could ask for a years salary up front. But this is very subjective, if you have some very rare skills that they are in need of, you could be underselling yourself even at that rate.

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