How Not to Email a Startup Hiring Manager
Mika Reyes
Co-founder at King’s Cross Labs · ex-LinkedIn PM & Forbes 30 Under 30
You want to work at a startup? Don’t lead with this kind of email. ⚠️
It's absolutely fair to ask about salary and equity. But if that's your first message to the hiring manager, it signals that compensation is your top priority, not the problem, vision or the work.
And if that's the case, you probably won’t survive the early-stage startup grind.
Compensation along will never be enough to carry you through the ambiguity, the late nights, the pivots.
Early-stage startups are bets. And people betting on something big don't lead with “what’s in it for me?”
Frequently asked questions
- How should you email a startup hiring manager?
- Lead with the problem, the vision, and the work, not with salary and equity. Comp questions are fair, but if they're your opening message, you signal that pay is your top priority, which is a red flag for the ambiguity and grind of an early-stage startup.
Related reading
- How to NOT get hired — the exact email that quietly costs you the role