5/23  stupid startup guy here again.  We got a new CFO, a veteran of
      many startups.  I asked him how many shares there are out there,
      and how much the company is worth, and, and I'm not making this up,
      he replied with the exact numbers I wanted.  I don't understand.
      Maybe he's a pod person.  This makes no sense.  What is he doing
      working here?
      Apparently we are valued at 10 million, with 7 million shares
      outstanding.  So how many shares should mr over stressed engineer
      receive?  And I should I just say screw it and hold out for
      as much salary as possible?
        \_ welcome to the startup environment. Most of the time, it's
           very much an every man for himself type of environment. If
           you can't fight for your shares and recognition, you should
           step up and fight for your shares, or don't join the
           startup environment.
        \_ Are you the guy with the CEO who has 1000x your options? Does he
           have like 500K options and you have 500? If so, 500 should have
           been a red flag.
        \_ As I said before, you should probably be getting about 1/10th of
           one percent, vesting over four years. So in this case about 7000
           or 1800/yr. If you are really senior and in a lead or architect
           role, you should be getting two to four times that. But it is
           all up to what you can negotiate for yourself.
           \_ extra 1800 a year really doesn't equate all the extra crap
              I put up with around here.  bleah.
              \_ Well, 1800 long dated options are not worth $1800. If you
                 are really interested, you might try and figure out what
                 they are worth, but the volitality is going to be very
                 hard to estimate.
              \_ How senior are you? If it's not worth it, either find a new
                 job or suck it up because the economy sucks.