When you are looking to jump in at a start-up company there can be lots of questions.
What comp should I ask for in base salary?
Can I get stock?
These are good questions but there are better ones:
Is this a team where I can jump in and help build a great company?
Are these people I can work closely with day to day and feel challenged and have fun?
When you interview with a big firm the habit is to focus the conversation around comp. It’s normal. But when you want to move to a start up the conversation should focus around work and team.
With a large firm it sometimes feels that you are negotiating to extract value. With a start up you want to negotiate to build value.
Sure this means you should talk about equity etc. but just focus on the fact that the equity is only worth something if you can build it together.