It's a huge red flag, and it's a hugely common red flag.
A startup was peeved I valued their equity at zero when they wouldn't share. I got strong hints my equity was worth at least $100k in extra annual salary, but they wouldn't budge on disclosing anything I could hold them accountable to. I think they were being honest, but I didn't take the job.
I did take a previous job like that, and when the company sold, we were all surprised management was honest. Management gave a used-car-salesman vibe, which was just wrong. I think with transparency, people would have worked much harder.
I don't have insights as to the reason for the extreme opacity.
A startup was peeved I valued their equity at zero when they wouldn't share. I got strong hints my equity was worth at least $100k in extra annual salary, but they wouldn't budge on disclosing anything I could hold them accountable to. I think they were being honest, but I didn't take the job.
I did take a previous job like that, and when the company sold, we were all surprised management was honest. Management gave a used-car-salesman vibe, which was just wrong. I think with transparency, people would have worked much harder.
I don't have insights as to the reason for the extreme opacity.