How do I make a compelling offer and close a candidate who has a competing offer from a big company?
The short answer
You will lose on cash and brand, so don't compete there. Sell ownership, speed of learning, and proximity to the founders, and make the candidate feel personally chosen, not slotted. Move fast: a startup's real advantage is closing in days while the big company's process drags for weeks. Get the founder on a call, be transparent about risk and runway, and give equity a concrete story (what it could be worth, and why you believe it).
Go deeper, your way
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Why we picked it
This is the single best playbook for the exact call you are dreading: the candidate has a bigger offer and you have to close them without matching cash. Ajmal, who hired against Amazon and Intuit, gives you the concrete moves, walk the equity through a conservative 5x scenario instead of a fantasy number, say out loud 'I will lose way more money than you do' to earn trust on risk, never trash the competing company, and match your interview panel to whether the person is problem-driven or mission-driven. It also nails your 'personally chosen' point: identify what actually motivates them early, then reinforce it at every stage.
Why we picked it
This is the mechanics-and-speed piece: it makes the case that your unfair advantage against a big company is turnaround time, and gives you the numbers to run it, follow up the same day after a coffee, target a 48-hour turnaround after the onsite, and make the offer when the candidate is ready to accept, not when your team is finally ready to send it. It also reframes closing as something that starts at first outreach (spend the first conversation 90 percent selling, 10 percent evaluating), which is exactly how you beat a slow, multi-round corporate process.
Why we picked it
Once you have decided a key hire gets an ESOP grant and not co-founder shares, this is the India-specific playbook for actually doing it: pool sizing (5% to 15%), the mandatory one-year minimum vesting the Companies Act imposes, exercise price at fair market value, and the DPIIT-recognised-startup carve-outs. It is the practical alternative to over-granting equity, written for the Indian cap table you are actually running.
