I have had many jobs. Here is how I start a salary negotiation: I name the package that will get me to drop everything and start tomorrow. Salary, bonus, benefits, options. Anything less and we can talk, but I will still be negotiating with other companies, and one of those may snap me up, or I will continue doing what I am doing today. That puts them in the position of convincing me that the intangibles (career growth, challenge, great team, mission) justify taking less. At the end of the day, you are happy with what you get, regardless of what someone else gets.