Would you take a paycut?
Hi Viners, My elder brother who used to work in strategy got laid off in July. He had a fixed pay of 35 and total CTC of 42. ( 2 lakh annual esops, 5 lakh variable). He has a pretty good runway and not worried about the finances since currently at home and no rent/ other metro city expenses. He has been working as an external consultant since December and making 3 lakh per month as fees.
Yesterday he received an full time offer from a startup with Fixed pay 32, 1 lakh retention, 1 lakh performance bonus and 4 lakh annual esops at the last valuation.
The startup is yet to raise series B but the role he is getting is a strategy and ops planning role along with PnL responsibility in 3-6 months.
HR told him that the salary would get revised once they recieve series B but he knows that stuff is usually just lip service. Glassdoor reviews also show that the workload will be high and might have to work on public holidays as well.
Would you advice to take this?
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3lpm is so cool as a freelancer. Mind sharing your brother's YoE & Background?
I think he shud keep going with the offer with the job search on. Lack of continuity doesn't help in job interviews. If there are no other time commitments. go for it.
He has 3 yrs of exp post an MBA from a top 7 b school
Better to take up the job then. Speaking as someone with 1Y+ of career break,
With 3YoE, job breaks aren't viewed favorably. He wudnt know how long it could extend. If it extends beyond 8-12m, it would lead to awkwardness during interviews.
Now, if the startup has screaming red flags with founder, culture, location etc and he can forego. But he shud get back to full time job search again.
If no other option then go for it until he can get better option
Depends if the team is good and company is doing well, then why not. But in this case where consulting is paying well, i wouldn’t go for a startup. What’s the YOE?
No, blue and grey collar workers should take a paycut.
For a pre-series B it should mostly depend on the leadership team. Lot of Indian startups at this stage have terrible management and WLB. He should also negotiate on the esops, seems pretty less for the role
Ultimately, it depends on your brother's priorities, responsibilities, risk tolerance, and career aspirations. If he values potential long-term growth and is comfortable with the associated risks and workload, the offer might be worth considering. However, if stability and work-life balance are top priorities for him, he may want to explore other options or negotiate for better terms with the startup.
Another option is, he can accept the offer, while he looks for other better roles. This way you avoid career break which is harder to explain than a short stint and avoids giving HRs leverage to negotiate you down as well.