Posting under a gimmick for privacy. Hopefully this does not violate the rules. This is a bit TLDR, so

Cliffs: Said I was still "interested" after being told range for a job is $60-65k. I realize this is way under market, and I am going in for a final interview this week.

Background:

Currently voluntarily unemployed since June. My last company was bought out, and I elected to take a generous severance rather than stay on. I was in a management position making $100k + 10-20% bonus.

Situation:

I found a tech start-up looking for an account manager to own a key relationship (Fortune 500 co.) and to help actually build out some of the business model. They have raised a Series A and B, with a successful founder, ~30 employees, and a cool product. I was VERY excited about the opportunity when I went into interview #1 with the hiring manager. My last industry was pretty stale, and I really want to break into software/tech. The company is in a big city but not SF or NYC.

My estimation going in for the compensation for the position was in the $85k-100k range. During the interview the hiring manager dropped the news that they were looking at $60-65k + equity for this particular position. I was admittedly pretty frozen (should have asked why the target was so low). He told me to e-mail him the next day whether I was still interested, and given my previous level of excitement (and lack of current employment), I e-mailed him that I was still interested.

I got an e-mail today from him. He is going out of town for a week, but the founder wants me to come in and meet him and the rest of the leadership team. I am confident in my ability to impress the team and demonstrate my value (notwithstanding my bungling of the initial salary offer). I realize at this point that $65k for this type of position is way low, and not something that I am likely to accept. I have another interview this week with a different company where I think the compensation will be $85k-95k.

I am really not sure of the best way to handle the salary situation from here.

It feels a bit shady to get into a discussion with the founder about compensation at the interview given that the hiring manager was straight up with me and now he's out of town

Perhaps the best play is to just do my best at the interview and then start negotiating once I get the offer? I hate to just waste everyone's time.

Any advice offered is appreciated.

Go in and do well in the interview. Maybe they end up offering you something else, or can raise the salary for you.

30 people is at the point where you will have specialization, but still have a lot of stuff that needs to be improved and built out. If this role is critical to the bottom line and making their model profitable then they may refuse to budge, but if you will get the chance to do other stuff then they may be willing to pay you more.

Since it is an account manager position for one named account, the 60-65k number may be significant, but if you were excited about it you should definitely check it out. It could even lead to something later on after they exit this company.

Agree with Larry - still worth your time to interview. Your only downside is the waste of an afternoon + your upside is that you could improve the pay range.

I would also ascertain this:

They are coming up with the 60-65k number somehow. It's either tied to number of years of exp + market pay for the role or budget they have for the position or some combination of both.

It's important to know if they think they are paying under market salary and offsetting this with equity or if you are interviewing for a role that you're overqualified for.

Thanks for the advice so far. A few responses to keep the discussion going.

I have no doubt about going ahead and interviewing.

I also agree about the key question being why they set the range the way that they did. I think a likely explanation is that they intend to hire a handful of these 'account manager' positions over the next 12 months, so their financial models are sensitive to the pay rate. The big difference being that at this stage the company, I am also expected to help build out some of the business model so they can duplicate it with other partners.

What I am struggling with is that since I already maintained my interest in the position with the hiring manager, what is the appropriate time and manner to revisit my perceived disconnect between my value in the position and the proposed range?

Discussing compensation with the founder with the hiring manager (future boss) out of town feels like a bad start to the relationship.

I'd completely avoid pay until it's clear both sides want to move forward. If the founder brings it up, then just be transparent. If not, don't bring it up.

If they really want you, then they will either be flexible on pay or make it up with equity.

The other thing (and I personally do this with hires like your situation) is you potentially start out at a lower salary point than you want, but with some pre-negotiated checkpoints/raises based on performance, which can be way more aggressive than whatever is typical for the company. If you're qualified and confident that you will come in and add value, this kind of an approach is a win-win.

Yea, don't be the one to bring up salary. If it doesn't get mentioned until the offer stage, it is perfectly fine to say "I really love what you are doing, etc. but after much consideration I unfortunately have to make X."

If someone brings it up, then yea be transparent.

first get the offer, then negotiate terms. show interest and get them excited, that will help you drive your value presentation.

secondly, you need to give them justifications for why you are worth more. dont make it about arguing the position itself should be paid more (that is a harder perspective to change) but that you in dependently of other candidates should command a higher price. for example, what % of business does this client represent and can you articulate how you specifically will drive that higher? are you able to uniquely bring in other relationships given your past experience and add to your/the company's book of business? start thinking about things like that as a starting point and work your way up. remember too that in startups (different than funded/cash flow positive companies) that cash in king, so you're more likely to negotiate a better overall package with commission and additional bonuses that flat salary bumps.

GL OP, let us know how it goes.

Honestly if they are trying to spend 60-65k it's pretty unlikely (imo) that they are going to be able to get close to your previous comp. Perhaps 60-65k with some kind of incentive structure that allows you to earn commissions that get you into range.

Hey guys wanted to give you an update. This will also be a bit TLDR.

I'd say I kind of went 0 for 2 in that the interview did not go well, and the compensation issue did not either (perhaps related to the first point). He definitely seemed to think of the position as more customer service and less building something out. It seemed like he wanted someone bubbly, and perhaps I was too "business". I will readily admit that my current interview game is probably a little uptight, and I could relax a bit. Also I wore a suit which he was kind of wtf are you wearing. Whoops.

He asked about halfway through what my current compensation was, which I answered, and he did not follow up. So I felt like that part of it was at least going well. Then at the very very end, he asked me what compensation I was expecting. I told him the hiring manager had discussed with me, the founder seemed to genuinely not know the #, and I told him $65k. I said that it was clearly a lot less than I was making but I was pumped up about the position, etc. and I wanted to find a way to make it work. I asked him to help me evaluate how I should look at a position like this vs. something $30k higher. He gave me some pretty weak bull**** about how happy people are working here and mentioned the equity component. And I said, I wasn't really sure how I should be valuing that piece, and he said 'it depends on what happens with the company'. So that was a bit insulting to my intelligence, but perhaps he was just done with me and didn't feel the need to entertain the subject.

So yeah, I guess all and all it wasn't a good outcome, but thanks for the advice all.

Yea just overall seems like a bad fit on both sides. That isn't the role for you.

Unless Equity/commission component is significant enough to obviously make up for a big sal drop, a huge drop in salary is a red flag. Esp for guys who hit the 100k barrier.

The level of autonomy, authority, responsibility, skills, training, etc. you are afforded at 100K is a light year ahead of what is given to guys at 65K. There are also lots of orgs that are highish turnover due to crappy culture/job design, and lots of companies looking to hire a resume unrealistically (I really want a top flight stud sales manager... for 100K all in!). These problems all come with overlap. And while good sales/account management is all about the game of working with people to achieve your desired decisions, some things may just take too long or be impossible (e.g. working your way out of a purgatory job with a favored player already entrenched ahead of you at a firm that is not growing all that fast due to flaws/ego at the top).

Seriously send them a thank you note for the discussion. Keep em in the LInkedIn Network or w/e and go find a better gig!

Thanks Maskk. I'd love to poll BFI for some more general career advice in my situation.

I am 10 years out of school - industrial engineering degree from a top 10 school. I played poker for 5 years, and then hit a great situation with my first job going from entry level to director of operations within 5 years at a ~$100MM rev/yr gaming company. As I stated in the OP, we got bought out, and I took a 6 mo. severance package. I felt like the position that remained for me was a dead-end, so no regrets there.

I am finding it really hard (been looking for about 8 weeks) to convince any company to give me a shot at a $100-150k director level job outside of my previous industry. Perhaps the poker + light experience? I am also mostly looking at consulting & software positions which are probably more competitive industries than average. I would certainly settle for a higher level position in a less sexy industry if the company was small and it was a good environment. Like I said, I am not having much luck being considered for these roles. I am also hating being on the bench and the day to day lifestyle of job hunting is making me a little crazy.

So to try to get back in the game, my mainline strategy has been to target more technical roles like software implementation, project management, sr. analyst, etc. These at least pay in the $85k-100 range, are more plentiful, and are in the industry I want to be in. I do not mind doing some technical stuff, and having nobody reporting to you seems like a luxury. My hope is to be able to transition into the management and business side somewhere down the road. I really do love business strategy, negotiation, M&A stuff, etc.

My mentor (retired exec from my last job) thinks I should really hold out for that mythical VP or Director position. I am not sure if he's just out of touch with the job market, or if I am just setting my sights too low.

Or maybe you are setting sights too high?

I have an MBA and graduated undergrad 10y ago--so less technical work experience but have attained that arena of job level (different industries).

2 quick thoughts and broadly relevant to readers:
If you want to switch industries and keep a non-entry level job role (manager, director, VP, etc.), you're going to need to network like a beast, get a little lucky, and probably look a long time.

Our economy hasn't been at full employment that long, if it even is now. Not that many jobs to go around--so if a company is hiring for a Director/VP level role you have to first check in house, then likely can find qualified candidates in their specific field (if they haven't again a red flag--a real problem when moving to a higher level job--why is it open at all?).

So if you want the highest level role possible, staying in the same narrow field is the way to go. If you want to switch fields, those 85-100K spots dropping down and working your way back is the most likely option (unicorns exist; but networking, rep, luck are all needed)

I had 2 interviews last week (in addition to the one in the OP) for these sorts of 85-95k technical roles, so I have made progress seeking this type of work.

I work at a really small investment firm and from being on the other side of these kind of decisions...

They probably have some wiggle room but not too much. When we say to someone the range is "x to y" that's kinda what we budgeted and aren't likely to move from that range assuming it was reasonable to begin with. We were interested in going slightly above the range for a guy with experience clearly above what we were asking for but certainly not 20k+.

When you say you are still interested they say think they can get you for roughly that amount. I think as you note in hindsight, you should've said something or asked why it was low.

I can see why other companies are not giving you as much credit for your exp as it's mostly poker related it seems. It's like us hiring a consumer analyst to be a tech analyst... it can be done but it's not really what we want. It's certainly much easier to stay within "gaming" but there's also the question of if that's part of your long term goals.

But regardless, I'd say that they are probably lowballing you (not because they're jerks) and that you should probably hold out for something better.

Very much agree you don't need to hard sell a high salary yet. Only consideration would be wasting your time, since you're excited about it I'd go through the process and then negotiate.

The reason is it gets them pot committed, hiring takes a lot of time and effort. Your salary is about 50% of the cost to the company, so asking for a $100k salary is really only like a 30% increase. They are likely dropping $10k+ for a search like this, you could very easily end up with something close to what you want if they like you.

Best case scenario is you're the only viable candidate (not uncommon) and they are comparing your salary demand to another search cost and then it gets easy to say yes. Be ready with other negotiation points like extra vacation that doesn't impact a PnL.

As was already said, this is super common.

My experience tells me it is because most people are constantly making decisions based on minimizing risk, not just for the position but for themselves. If they "take a chance" on a hire and it doesn't work out, then they get the blame for it. If they hire someone that looks like a status-quo hire coming from the same job/industry as them, and it doesnt work out, they are probably never getting blamed.

It is a huge reason why networking is very important. You need to find the managers who are not standard risk-adverse bad managers, but are willing to take risks and fail sometimes, in order to have greater successes.

As an investor who sits on a few boards and works closely with management teams on hiring, there is not a ton of material negotiation opportunity at Series A and the vast majority of Series B companies with a few senior level exceptions.

There are a few reasons for this:
(a) Burn rate matters a lot to unprofitable companies. The difference between $60k and $100k = $40k/year. To a company with $5M in the bank, that's nearly 1% of all available cash.

(b) The management teams hiring you are being benchmarked against their forecasts by burn rate by their investors. Sure, giving you a stretch on salary is only $40k but it's a slippery slope. You stretch on 20 hires if a team goes from 50 to 100 people, and you can accidentally spend an extra $300k. That could be a full month of burn.

The exception is with senior level execs. A company could have $120k budgeted for a COO role or whatever but if the right opportunity arises for a senior, A-level player who is literally a company changer (and has a referenceable reputation that the co can raise money off of for the next round), that comp could jump to $350k or whatever. It's highly elastic for those roles.

E