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I Turned Down Figma for a Series D Startup. Here Are My 3 Reasons.
Austin had two strong software engineering opportunities: Figma, and Headway, a Series D startup. In part one he announced that he rejected the Figma offer. Here he explains the three reasons he took the startup instead.
First, the recruiting process: he liked it from start to end, and the team he met clearly loves the mission. Second, his side project: Headway gave him more reassurance that working on NexusTrade would not be an issue, while Figma could not guarantee it and required a conflict of interest compliance review, the same answer that got him fired from Coinbase. Third, the offer itself: a $210,000 base salary and a $20,000 sign-on bonus, with roughly the same equity as Figma, though private-company equity is a real weak point.
He joins as a mid-level software engineer with a clear goal of reaching senior, and says the director of engineering is on his side. The video is illustrated as an animated sketchbook between his recorded commentary.
Transcript
0:00I had two strong software engineering opportunities in front of me, and I chose the one with the road less traveled by.
0:07Let's talk about it.
0:08Earlier today I announced that I actually decided to reject my software engineering opportunity at Figma.
0:14I instead took a role to work as a software engineer at a Series D startup called Headway.
0:20There are several reasons why I chose this startup over Figma.
0:25Number one, I really like the recruiting process from start to end.
0:30When I talk to the other people on the team, they seem to really love the mission, and even though it seems like it'll be a lot of work, it's a lot of work doing real good.
0:42Number two, the other opportunity gave me more reassurance that working on my app NexusTrade would not be an issue.
0:49With Figma, they couldn't guarantee it and I had to go through the conflict of interest compliance process.
0:56And this is the same exact answer that got me fired from my engineering opportunity at Coinbase and I just didn't want to risk a round two.
1:07Number three is the offer at Headway was simply more competitive.
1:12They offered me a much higher base salary at $210,000.
1:19They offered me roughly the same equity as Figma, but the company is private, so that was an extremely weak point.
1:27But they also offered me an outstanding $20,000 sign-on bonus.
1:33And when considering all of the factors all together, especially the recruiting practice and how much I could just feel how bad they wanted me, I just decided to take a risk and work at Headway as a mid-level software engineer.
1:50The bonus points with this offer is that I've communicated very clearly that I want to be senior level, and everyone, including the director of engineering, is on my side.
2:01The team I'm joining has a lot of scope.
2:03There's a lot of work that can be done, and it literally gives me the opportunity to prove my mettle.
2:09So that's why I chose to start up over a safe, established big tech company like Headway.
2:17Would you have done the same?
2:18Leave a comment below.
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