Zhang Xue defends graduate salary offer after campus backlash

The dispute is less about one salary figure than about how founder-led firms pitch long-term upside against starting pay, and Zhang's own framing — equity built over time versus a higher base — exposes that trade-off publicly. It matters for campus recruiting at founder-branded companies, where a founder's personal profile is part of the offer, and for students weighing equity narratives they cannot easily value. Whether such equity-based pitches keep landing with graduates, and whether the pushback shapes how these packages are presented, is the open question.