Got laid off in February, spent about 8 weeks interviewing, had an Uber offer I ended up negotiating. Sharing exactly what happened because the generic advice out there is mostly useless.
Initial offer: PM2 in SF, $192k base, $480k equity, 15% bonus, $25k sign-on.
I'd also gotten to final stages at two other companies (one gave an offer the same week, one was still deliberating). Here's the playbook that actually worked:
Step 1: Competing offer. Uber responded to a competing offer almost immediately. The other company had offered $200k base and $520k equity. I shared this with my Uber recruiter and got a response within 2 business days: base bumped to $200k, equity to $560k. They didn't fully match but they moved.
Step 2: Asking for more sign-on. After they moved base and equity I pushed on sign-on. Said something like: 'I have unvested equity at my current role that I'm walking away from, can we increase the sign-on to offset that?' They came up from $25k to $40k. I was actually laid off so I had no unvested equity, but I had a WARN Act severance component that was ending. The logic holds either way.
Step 3: What didn't move. I tried to push base higher one more time. They said the band was capped. I asked about bonus target increase. Also no. At PM2 level the bonus percentage seems locked.
Total outcome: $200k base, $560k equity, 15% bonus ($30k target), $40k sign-on. Year 1 total roughly $420k.
Things I'd change: I was too quick to accept after step 1. I should have held longer before accepting the first counter, signaled more uncertainty. Once you say 'yes' verbally the leverage evaporates. Also: email, not phone for negotiations. Paper trail and more thinking time.