Ask HN: Interviewing – how to think like an investor?

3 points·anoojb··3 comments

I've been thinking about interviewing for a new role. It's become increasingly clear that given how much compensation is tied to equity, I should evaluate my opportunity [in part] like an investor.

- What are the critical dynamics and metrics you use to judge the value of the equity at a startup? - Are there any software tools you use as part of this journey?

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Basic framework:

- Rough estimation of their current position relative to peer organizations (list them, rank them based on your general idea of who's leading overall right now)

- Any public, objective statements of their prospects by e.g. independent writers or sources

- Current share pricing relative to e.g. 200-day moving average (tech will be very low currently, so in a way it could be similar to a buy-low-sell-high situation depending on how long you work there and how they perform in the market).

- Check Yahoo Finance for technical data like that, as well as other fundamentals and other reports

- Any other objective metrics that would indicate a change in their market leadership ranking. For example upcoming launch date targets for new tech. Then evaluate share pricing changes around that time, see if pricing budged compared to expectations & read media reviews.

This is better as an ongoing process than one and done. Good luck.

Unfortunately, as an interviewee you won’t have access to as much information as an investor so you won’t be able to value the equity portion of your comp package normally. You can evaluate the industry said startup is in the same as an investor but in terms of interviewing and negotiating your comp - I think the common HN refrain is that value them at nothing.

Doesn’t apply if you are interviewing for a cofounder or other such role of course.

can you ask for the cap table?

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