Amey-Thakur Salary negotiation
Negotiation is a short window where information and alternatives set the price. Companies expect it, budget for it, and do not rescind over professional asks; leaving it unused is donating money for politeness that nobody records.
Method
- Research the band before any number talk. Level-specific data (levels.fyi-class sources, recent peers, recruiters' own ranges: many jurisdictions now require posting them), for your market and company tier; know the band's shape (base, bonus, equity mix at that level). Walking in without data means negotiating against a professional with a spreadsheet using your feelings.
- Delay numbers until they offer. Early "expectations" questions get the range question reversed ("what is the band for this level?") or a researched-high anchor if forced. Never volunteer current compensation; where legal to ask, deflect to expectations. The first specific number sets the anchor: prefer it to be theirs, then work from it.
- Build leverage with alternatives. Parallel processes timed to land offers together (see technical-interviews' pipeline discipline) are the strongest lever; a genuine competing offer moves bands more than any argument. No competing offer? Leverage is the documented value gap (your evidence file: see promo-packet, engineering-resume numbers) and the credible willingness to stay put.
- Negotiate the package, not the base. Equity (grant size, vesting schedule, refresh policy: understand what the shares are worth and how you would verify: see saas-metrics adjacency for private-company reality), sign-on (the easiest lever: it fixes year-one gaps), level itself (the band you are in outvalues thousands within a band), plus start date, remote terms, and review timing. Ask for the components in priority order, once, together: serial nibbling burns goodwill.
- Make the ask collaborative and specific. "I am excited about this team. To sign, I need base at X and sign-on at Y: competing offer at Z is real, but this is where I want to be. Can you make that work?" Enthusiasm plus number plus reason; then silence. Everything in writing before you resign anywhere (see receiving-feedback's poise for hearing "no" without folding).
- Set the walk-away and the yes in advance. Before the call: the number where you sign happily and the number below which you decline: decided calmly, held under pressure (deadlines are usually softer than stated; exploding offers deserve a professional request for time). When they meet the ask: stop, thank, sign: re-opening a met ask is how won negotiations become rescinded ones.
Boundaries
- Internal raises use the same evidence logic with different mechanics (cycles, budgets, retention offers); a resignation-backed counter is a one-time card that reprices trust: play it only if you would truly leave (see one-on-one-meetings for the channel where the gap should have surfaced earlier).
- Never bluff a competing offer or inflate numbers; markets are small and verification is a phone call (the engineering-resume honesty bar, with money on it).
- Startups' equity math (dilution, preferences, strike prices) deserves independent research beyond this skill; "worth $2M at exit" is a marketing sentence, not a valuation.