stay put or join startup fund

will try to keep this as vague as possible to maintain anonymity but i've been with my L/S SM for > 7 yrs now, performance has been strong and comp is more than fair. we've not scaled dramatically but we're ~$500m mark and i'm fairly senior on a pretty small team. there's a broad sector focus but it's comparatively generalist. definitely have succeeded here but there seems to be a cap on how much $ we can raise... AUM has grown since starting forever ago but a lot of that's been organic. it is definitely more of a value strategy but we've dabbled across sectors. get along with the team generally speaking and is nyc-based so no commute (will be important) 

VS

startup fund, raised ~$150m in 6+ months, has some pretty substantial backing and OK pedigree. never officially managed risk before (been at some strong Tiger-cub esque SMs). would be more of a quality/growth long-biased mandate which is stylistically much newer to me. based in CT. culturally seems fine - we get along well and i'd technically be the first investment hire he's making. also fully generalist but likely lends itself to growthier sectors so a bit of a pivot from what i'm used to looking at. obviously the CT aspect drives a commute but not insurmountable

comp wise... i'd be taking a 25% pay cut in base salary to join the startup fund, but with similar-ish fund economics to what i currently have in my seat today with optionality for that to grow. implicit within this seems entirely driven by this startup's ability to raise capital, which the odds i'm completely unsure of given lack of track record, offset by some pretty strong firms he's worked for & connected to. not thrilled about walking back base pay (NYC rent is expensive and i'm not moving to CT) but totally understand the bulk of comp generally in either scenario is bonus
 

to elaborate on my own thoughts: i've generally loved the idea of taking a risk on a start-up but there's tons of downside risk and i genuinely like my seat a lot. the comp thing is really a focus - i can clip pretty strong coupons (mid-high 6-figures) with generally pretty average performance in my current role vs. low/maybe mid-6 figures early on w/ the startup. the styles are tremendously different and while i don't think that's an issue it's just something i'll have to learn & ramp on. the commute idea isn't my favorite either but for the right seat i am flexible. i'm super comfortable in my seat today, am kinda the "go-to" guy here and have driven a really solid amount of PNL since i joined nearly a decade ago, and have been compensated well for that. i don't doubt in due time i could make multiples of this though at the startup but the entirety relies on his ability to raise meaningful capital and scale this thing, which is my only hesitation (bc it seems rather impossible to weight)

thank you for any thoughts