The day after Rob Waters learned of his layoff from Google last year, he was encouraged to apply for a new role there as an AI sales specialist. Google soon offered him the position, with a six-figure salary.
Waters wasn’t sure he wanted to return. He’d grown frustrated with the bureaucracy at Google and how the reorganization that eliminated his team had been handled.
But walking away meant giving up about a few hundred thousand dollars in unvested equity.
“I killed myself working and dedicating myself, and then all I got to show for it was getting let go,” said the 42-year-old, who lives in San Francisco.
He’d also dreamed of starting his own…
