Kikoff vs. Microsoft | cscareers.dev | Page 1

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 1:23 AM

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barren basin Oct 15, 2025, 1:26 AM

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Msft is Sde 1?

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 1:27 AM

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SDE 1 yeah

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L59

barren basin Oct 15, 2025, 1:38 AM

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50k signing bonus is common for everyone??

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 1:46 AM

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no

shy agate Oct 15, 2025, 1:50 AM

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comp gap isnt too big considering loc

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go msft here

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name diff is massive imo

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 1:50 AM

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2nd year falls off tho

shy agate Oct 15, 2025, 1:50 AM

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ye ik

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 1:51 AM

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i thought microsoft was mid

shy agate Oct 15, 2025, 1:51 AM

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170k in WA vs 203K SF is negligible

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kikoff is random

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mid > random

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grats on kikoff offer tho

quaint violet Oct 15, 2025, 2:02 AM

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Where’d u find out about bonus and relocation amount

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Also howd u get a 50k signon

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 2:03 AM

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relo i filled out the form

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bonus is 0-20 percent yearly but most ppl end up with 8-12 so EV 10

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10 prrvent of base is 12.7

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 2:03 AM

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quaint violet Also howd u get a 50k signon

i begged

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microsoft team would be infra for payments, kikoff team would probably be something product related

worldly minnow Oct 15, 2025, 3:26 AM

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which team is it at Microsoft?

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 3:34 AM

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worldly minnow which team is it at Microsoft?

c + e (notoriously not good)

lapis river Oct 15, 2025, 3:39 AM

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For kikoff I would take more cash tbh since it isn't public

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That said go with microsoft

worldly minnow Oct 15, 2025, 3:53 AM

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wheat grove c + e (notoriously not good)

Oof yeah I’ve heard this team is pretty tough lots of legacy code

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generally tho ifl @lapis river is right, but its worth considering whether you have a preference for being in SFO vs Redmond

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and also like how much you value the product dev/autonomy you'd prob get at kickoff

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do you have any clarity on what the role would be at kickoff?

lapis river Oct 15, 2025, 4:00 AM

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If you have those prevs, then just go to kikoff

worldly minnow Oct 15, 2025, 4:00 AM

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hmm ok yeah personally ifl thats where your main decision point should be

lapis river Oct 15, 2025, 4:00 AM

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it seems like you like it more + the comp is good enough

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you already have big tech on your res

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sure but it's fine

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you still have the exp which is what matters

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you can go from kikoff to big tech

worldly minnow Oct 15, 2025, 4:06 AM

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yeah also the difference in base comp is pretty sizable imo

lapis river Oct 15, 2025, 4:11 AM

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The only thing I worried about is how good of a business is kikoff? What’s the valuation? How much revenue and profit margins

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Are there plans to ipo soon?

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when were they founded?

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yea $200M+ arr at a 1b valuation is insanely g

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how does kikoff make money

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ic

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they're a credit card company

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icic

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they're a credit builder as a service essentially

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 4:19 AM

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yea

lapis river Oct 15, 2025, 4:20 AM

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Ig the question I would ask

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is why do they only have a $1b valuation given the profitability

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and strong ARR at least

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 4:21 AM

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which is like

lapis river Oct 15, 2025, 4:21 AM

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yea that's one possible reason

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bc tbh with those numbers they should be able to justify a $5 b valuation

wheat grove Oct 15, 2025, 4:21 AM

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wait can i dm

lapis river Oct 15, 2025, 4:21 AM

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easily

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in this market

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yep

#Kikoff vs. Microsoft