Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers
84 points by MediumD 2 weeks ago | 42 comments- MediumD 2 weeks agoWhen I got multiple startup job offers, I realized how hard it was to project out a realistic value behind the equity. Guessing future valuations, dealing with dilution, and running through endless scenarios was a headache—so I built Comparator.
Comparator is a simple, free, open-source tool to help you cut through the complexity of startup compensation. Quickly see what your equity might actually be worth, factor in dilution, and easily compare your offers side by side. It’s completely free, no signups, your data never leaves the browser.
Check out the app here: https://comparator-one.vercel.app
Check out the code here: https://github.com/DevonPeroutky/comparator
- codingdave 2 weeks ago> figure out the real value behind the equity.
Zero. Equity is a bonus in case things work out. But for the purpose of deciding on offers - zero.
- MediumD 2 weeks agoWhile I think it’s good advice to live as if the equity is worth zero, treating all equity as if its worth nothing, seems a bit over-reductionist when equity packages can routinely be worth millions of dollars.
Obviously it’s a crapshoot and should never be seen as a guarantee, I think treating it as zero is bit too far on the opposite extreme.
- stuckonempty 2 weeks agoHow did you get to equity packages being “routinely” worth millions when tech startups fail somewhere between 75% and >99% of the time (depending on estimates)?
Seems far more likely that startup equity will be worth zero to typical individual contributor employees, not millions
- stuckonempty 2 weeks ago
- esafak 2 weeks agoYou'd be remiss if the company is growing and has an IPO schedule. The uncertainty over equity reduces over time. Some people hop from pre-IPO company to pre-IPO company.
- MediumD 2 weeks ago
- codingdave 2 weeks ago
- ivolimmen 2 weeks agoI am too dumb for this. I get a salary and maybe a bonus. I never worked at a company that gave stock or options. When I do I will share the offers to someone that understands this. But I will most likely choose the company that shares my values and ignore the payout (unless it's realky a bad pay)
- jvanderbot 2 weeks agoThis is the way.
Even when I had multiple startup offers, "Likelihood of becoming rich" was only one column in a 13 column ranking. I ranked them in sorted order on each column, added up their ranks across columns, and accepted the one with the lowest sum of ranks. I have done this for every of my jobs and it's fine. I add or change columns each time. It has led me (eventually) to my current job which is far and away my favorite.
I kept former offers in the ranking as well, as a sort of "secretary problem" running solution.
- pinoy420 2 weeks ago[dead]
- jvanderbot 2 weeks ago
- dpflug 2 weeks agoY'all are getting multiple job offers?
- block_dagger 2 weeks agoAlso, they overlap? I was recently given two days to decide on an offer after a ten week interview process. I took it and dropped out of other interviews.
- amenghra 2 weeks agoSign the first offer, continue interviewing, if you end up switching companies just write a nice email to your recruiter/manager explaining the situation. It wouldn’t be the first or last time that it’s happened.
IANAL, the above isn’t legal advice, yada yada.
- wavemode 2 weeks agoIf they refuse to give you more time (they often will, if you demand it) then just accept the offer and keep interviewing during the interim before your start date.
- htrp 2 weeks agoI'd be cautious of this strategy, reneging has consequences both for the company that you ditch and the company that you eventually sign with
We pulled an offer we made because one of our candidates apparently had already accepted an earlier offer from another startup.
- htrp 2 weeks ago
- amenghra 2 weeks ago
- SOLAR_FIELDS 2 weeks agoThat is the best way to max your salary. Interview with as many companies as possible, get as many offers as you can, and pit them against each other.
- ramon156 2 weeks agoThis implies everyone gets multiple offers. When I had 2yrs of exp. I had one company that was confident about me, the rest were kind of trying to find reasons not to hire me (except exp)
- blharr 2 weeks agoFor the first interview that you get an offer, what exactly do you tell them to keep them from moving on to someone else?
Most don't extend employment offers out for months in my experience, or at least they really try to get you to agree off the bat. I imagine someone job searching is getting an interview once a week or so. Several times, I've had delays of weeks to months after just submitting an application to get the interview. So how do you just have multiple offers to juggle at any one time?
- SOLAR_FIELDS 2 weeks agoYou plan about 4-6 weeks and communicate early on that you are talking to several companies, and that you plan on evaluating offers on X date. Companies will shuffle things around to meet your date if you give them time. If they aren't flex you don't want to work for them anyway.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 2 weeks ago
- voidUpdate 2 weeks agoY'all are getting multiple interviews?
- ramon156 2 weeks ago
- crystal_revenge 2 weeks agoMy last job search (a few months ago) I had 9 concurrent interviews going on before I had to start cancelling them and ended up with at least 3 offers before I started flat out rejecting other teams.
If you've kept up in the AI space the demand is insane. Though, ironically, I ended up taking a classical statistical modeling position because the team seemed great (and I can't resist a good, non-trivial modeling problem).
- block_dagger 2 weeks ago
- callbacked 2 weeks agoExcellent! I just need to find offers...
- MH15 2 weeks agoReminder to turn "Show scroll bars" to "Always" if you're developing on MacOS for users on the web.
- sponnath 2 weeks agoThere's some minor content overflow in the x axis. I think it wouldn't hurt to tweak the max width of the page content as I feel like it's a bit too much right now. Also not sure if I'm a fan of the animation you have going on with the quotes. Feels tacky.
- jlengrand 2 weeks agoVery nice visualization, and super useful to learn more about how stocks and vestings work. And that puts an exact number on the price of your soul, and at which point you'll go and start working for a company that doesn't share your set of values
- yogini 2 weeks agoI was thinking of building something similar along with explaining the salary breakdown and how much in-hand salary you will get from your CTC.
Loved the initial loading animation. You should also launch this on Peerlist Launchpad, many devs gonna love it.
- gametorch 2 weeks agoVery cool. Even if it's hard to model future valuations with any certainty, I would still want to have a tidy comparison like this.
- wwdx 2 weeks agoTotally agree, any data points to help make an informed decision between multiple offers is helpful
- wwdx 2 weeks ago
- Unearned5161 2 weeks agoyour logo should be more like com<pear emoji>ator, the way it is now sounds like "comppearre"
- 2 weeks ago
- margotli 2 weeks agoNice one!
- aman_upadhyay 2 weeks ago[dead]