I plan on interviewing at a few start-ups. Everyone offers equity in the company these days.<p>Would turning down all equity be a red flag to a start-up? Would that be seen as a sign of lack of commitment?
You're not going to offend the recruiter, rejection is their job.<p>However, you may signal to the startup that you want the job for the wrong reasons, or your risk tolerance is not high enough to do a startup. PG advises startups to look for the sort of folks who are willing to work mostly for equity, because that aligns incentives around the startup's success. If you're taking mostly salary you have little skin in the game.
> Would turning down all equity be a red flag to a start-up?<p>Possibly. The idea of equity (in the form of options) is the company avoids paying as much up front as they might otherwise, in exchange for a stake in the company's future. If you turn down the future stake, you may signal that you don't think the company has a reliable future, or you may be taken as a pragmatist -- it depends on the individual to whom you speak.<p>Obviously the extreme would be a company that only offers options, no salary -- there's a cut-off point where no one will take them up on their offer. And remember to look at this from the opposite perspective -- the company wants to attract intelligent, creative people, the kind that might understand options too well to want them. They need to understand candidates' likely responses and the reasoning.
No need to turn down equity, provided the company is meeting your targeted salary expectations. Think of an equity stake as added incentive compensation. It's nice to have, but there's a reason people call them lottery tickets.