New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: How to Negotiate Stock Options

Ask HN: How to Negotiate Stock Options
5 by playcache | 4 comments on Hacker News.
A start up is very keen to hire me and are planning on making an offer. I am not being grandiose in saying I would be a good catch for them (they know it and I know it). My position at present is that I very much enjoy my current job, they are very good at rewarding me and give a good level of autonomy to run my engineering team that I acquired and grew myself. I don't have anything to lose here, only (potentially) gain. However the start up is pretty exciting and I know I could achieve a lot there. I would really enjoy the challenge. However, the real aspect that would make the difference for me is company stock, to the point that if they sell the company I won't have to worry about paying off the mortgage on my house and get a decent slice for retirement and my kids education. Now to my question, I am don't know jack about working out what would be a good amount of stock to shoot for. How would I go about establishing this? I figure I need to work out what the company could be worth and then consider what a percentage of options would provide. Anyone have any experience they could share?