While this article correctly notes that a little negotiation at onboarding can result in…

While this article correctly notes that a little negotiation at onboarding can result in significant gains, there are some serious errors in the suggested approach.

At a large company, cash salaries are fairly tightly banded by level. You can argue for one higher level (by bringing new data to the table as evidence of your seniority) but arguing for significantly higher cash at a given level is a losing battle. As you get more senior the game is not about cash but direct equity grants — not stock options, which can easily go “underwater” and cost more to exercise than they are worth. If you are at a high-level at Facebook or Google the vast majority of your total compensation will come from stock grants. It’s critical to note that the “level banding” for equity is both much wider (more variable) than salary and also steps up much more dramatically level-to-level than salary does.

So at a big company, first argue for leveling by providing data of your experience and seniority, then argue for increased stock grants, and don’t fixate on salary.

As for your advice on pre-IPO companies, if you believe that options at these companies are worthless, you almost certainly should never work for such a company as they will unlikely be able to give you pure cash comp competitive with that from a public company. The whole point of being at a startup is believing in the upside.