Call —
Transcript batch
0:00 Caller: Hey, how are you doing?
0:00 You: This call will be recorded.
0:12 You: Hey, Jeremy.
0:15 You: I'm well, just getting ready for the heat wave.
0:18 Caller: All right, cool.
0:20 Caller: So I don't have any feedback yet, but I'm planning to speak to RC at some point.
0:26 Caller: He's not as, like, these days,
0:30 Caller: you know, when the company's like 40 or so people, he's not like 100% directly like the end all be all in terms of hiring.
0:30 You: Thank you.
0:37 Caller: So he might have to like go back to the other people he's interviewed with and like, you know, kind of powwow and get like a consensus.
0:43 Caller: But I have a really good relationship with him.
0:48 Caller: So there's a chance that it might veer into offer territory when we do speak.
0:53 Caller: I really don't recall from our initial conversations, but where's your head at in terms of,
1:00 Caller: of what you need in terms of cash. I just like have a recollection that you told me, hey, I need to be at like X to leave my current company, but I just don't recall what that is. And he might lean on me a little bit in terms of like where they need to go in terms of just like salary compensation.
1:00 You: So the framework that I've been using $300,000, if the comp is liquid.
1:28 You: So a bonus are
1:30 Caller: Mm.
1:30 You: use that kind of stuff, 450 total comp, if it is illiquid.
1:34 You: So ISO, NSO, that kind of stuff, 600,000 total comp, but subject to diligence on cap table,
1:43 You: preference stack, and the employee incentive plan.
1:48 You: AIVC is unique.
1:49 You: I assume it's illiquid, but because it's effectively three different equity stacks,
1:55 You: I don't really understand how that incentive plan is meant to work.
2:00 Caller: Gotcha. Well, in terms of just cash, not including bonus or like, you know, back in carryover, all that, I mean, they will have a carryover, all of that. I mean, they will have a carryover. It's for all intents and purposes it operates as a private equity vehicle. So, you know, people there, realistically, if all goes well, like, we'll have, you know, you know, million dollar bonuses some years. Like that's how they're framing it.
2:00 You: And.
2:30 Caller: it. That's why you get, like, the people who ran AI for D.E. Shaw and, like, I'm sorry, for Citadel and, like, you know, these types of places, like, Millennium and people who Google and et cetera there.
2:30 You: But I, my impression is that this role is not
2:44 You: to appear to those ones.
2:47 Caller: It's not a peer to those ones. I'm just saying that, like, individual contributors are expected to make, like, windfall amounts of money from the carryover. That's, that other than the visual,
3:00 Caller: and it being probably like one of the top AI shops in New York period, there's a reason why it's attracted to people who are very high caliber and very high salary.
3:00 You: Thank you.
3:12 Caller: That said, the high salary, anyone in the company has period, in just terms of base, is 300.
3:20 Caller: So I can't guarantee that they will actually go to 300 on an IC role. They might come in closer at 250 or something.
3:28 Caller: If the total comp does work out to being, like, you know, in the figures you're discussing, are you comfortable with that?
3:30 You: So then I want to see what the offer on paper is, in terms of the carry pool,
3:45 You: pool, how the studio works out, that kind of stuff.
3:50 Caller: Right. Well, that's fine and all. But I just need to know, because I just need to know because, you know, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I, I,
3:58 Caller: can't guarantee, and I'd say there's a very high probability that the base will not be 300,000.
4:00 You: Understood. I see. What are the odds of any sort of signing bonus to bridge the first year?
4:06 Caller: I'm just letting you know, like, the directors and the company, that's what they're making is their base.
4:14 Caller: It's for the entire assigning bonus, I don't know about that.
4:19 You: In lieu of a base that high. Okay. That's fine.
4:23 Caller: I don't know, but, I mean, but they're going to have bonuses, and they have three tiers of additional.
4:28 Caller: revenue that you participate in, which, you know, assuming they're going to make you an offer, they're going to share all of that with you, it's just not going to be, like, part of your month-to-month paycheck. You know, that, that's why I want to close the loop.
4:30 You: I get that.
4:45 You: All right.
4:46 You: So based on whoever else you've placed or whatever else you know there and the value of the profile
4:51 You: that I have, where do you anticipate an offer would lend?
4:58 Caller: probably, you know, mid-toos, just in terms of the base salary alone.
5:00 You: Understood. Okay. Then wherever it lands, that's only one component I recognize. So I definitely want to diligence all of the other components as well.
5:05 Caller: That, that's what I would anticipate. So putting all aside,
5:14 Caller: mm-hmm. Okay. All right, that, that works. So let me work on that, because I do plan to speak to
5:23 Caller: to R.C. at some point today, and I just think, given our relationship, he might ask me that type of
5:28 Caller: So I don't want to say 300 and I'm going, oh, man, like, this person and that person are making 300.
5:30 You: Thank you.
5:36 Caller: Because I've been working with them since they basically started, and I know for the entire company, that's max that they could go on a base.
5:43 Caller: So they're going to then go, okay, well, like, the director of the studio makes that as his base, and you get what I'm saying.
5:50 Caller: But that all said, I've introduced people that are individual contributors that are in the mid-2s.
5:57 Caller: So I know that they could go there.
6:00 You: Understood.
6:02 Caller: All right, so let me work on it, and I'll get back to you.
6:05 You: Perfect. Thank you, Jeremy.
6:07 Caller: Okay, no problem.