The AI boom is minting startup multimillionaires at an unprecedented speed

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One of the wildest stories in tech right now is what's happening at Anthropic. New data from Levels.fyi shows how some employees at this AI startup have effectively become multimillionaires about a year after joining.

One engineer who started in late 2024 got 60,000 stock options at a $13 strike price, when Anthropic was valued around $18 billion. At the time, the equity penciled out to roughly $200,000 a year on paper.

Fast forward to a recent share sale valuing Anthropic near $350 billion. Even after estimated dilution and other factors, this employee probably owns about $4 million to $5 million in vested stock now. The full equity grant, which typically vests in quarters over four years, is likely worth about $18 million to $20 million, according to Levels.fyi estimates.

Other examples, based on real compensation packages submitted to Levels.fyi by Anthropic employees: A senior software engineer with about $1.6 million in vested stock after a year; a more senior staffer with roughly $8 million after 18 months; and a business operations leader with at least $9 million after two years.

Tax can take a big chunk of this value, especially if you live in California. Still, outcomes like this used to take five to 10 years and an IPO. In frontier AI, it's happening a lot faster now — as long as you get hired by the right startup.

"The biggest variable in maximizing your compensation will almost always be the company you work at, even beating out things like your job title," said Hakeem Shibly, a data guru from Levels.fyi.

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