If you have startup stock options, check your option plan
The last two companies I've gotten offers from gave me very, very heavy pushback when I tried to figure out what % of equity they were giving me.<p>They told me they were giving me 5,000 shares (for example).  OK... 5,000 of how many?  What % of all the shares is 5,000?  My understanding is you need this information to know if the equity is worth something or nothing.  Yet, they really don't want to give me this information.<p>For one of these jobs the recruiter I was going through (this is a big recruitment company) literally told me nobody has ever asked these questions about the options they were getting.<p>Am I doing something wrong?  Do I have a misunderstanding of how these things work?  Is it unreasonable for me to be told the outstanding shares?