Comment by samstave | Hacker News Reader

Comment by samstave | Hacker News Reader

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>I think this is the execs trying to grab as much stock as possible for themselves pre-IPO, so they can dump it and run.

This is EXACTLY what is happening - anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded or plain stupid.

When Lockheed bought Savi technology, the RFID company, there were massive stock bonuses given out to the the Savi execs just prior to the sale.

Then they told all the employees who had been there less than 18 months they would get NOTHING for the shares they were hired on with as incentive.

All the other employees were given 15% of what the company had been claiming the street price of the options were.

PLUS they held some significant % of the stock value in an escrow account for some number of months should there be a legal backlash and Lockheed were sues - they were to use the escrow share money on that case...

Pincus is a very very VERY shady character.

Yet another IPO that I would never touch purely on principal alone.

Who wants to be Goldman will be taking this IPO?

"Pincus is a very very VERY shady character"

Any examples of this? Not that I don't believe you, but just curious

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/09/zynga_pincus_cop...

Tells his team to steal game ideas, makes millions in the process then shafts the people who made it happen for him.

Would love to hear from someone who can paint him in a better light than the horrible individual I have in mind at the moment.

This isn't surprising, not everybody in the game is for building something or for changing the world or for passion.

Someone is here only for the money multiplication factor. Sales, advertising, marketing and your usual MBA subjects are all about that. That is, not to care about what you are selling, but to create an illusion which gives an opportunity to amplify that seed investment. That is the time to cash on and move on.

I apologize for what i said last night. I went to the Rock Health event with an open bar and had too much wine, and one should never internet under the influence :)

Sorry about that. I am, however, still passionate that the actions of Pincus and other executives like him are deplorable and in no way should they be seen as OK - even if "everyone else is doing it".

>not everybody in the game is for building something or for changing the world or for passion.

You fucking suck.

I am not clear if youare advocating these actions or not - but let me make it very clear to you; if you are a proponent of such behavior - lets make sure we never cross paths.

This is NOT OK.

People like this are CANCER.

Sure - many instances of CEOs end up in the position of a Pincus - but it DOES NOT make it ok.

Pincus is a detriment not a person to be idolized.

The guy is telling it how it is, you are behaving like an 11 year-old. The world is not a nice place, it gets less nice when money is involved, grow up.

You're both right. Just because "it is how it is" doesn't make something OK, as you say the world is not a nice place, but it also doesn't mean you have to sit down and take it like a cabbage either.

And it's perfectly fine to tell people with questionable moral values to go and fuck themselves. Even though it's not always the most strategically sound way to make sure they get what they got coming in a world that is indeed not a very nice place at all.

There's a bloody big leap from "screwing employees over stock options" over "excessive 'inspiration' from competition" to "not in it to change the world with a passion".

Replying "you fucking suck" to someone taking the position that it's actually OK to go and do a job without having passion and unicorns and rainbows flow out of your ass all day is not the opposite of "taking it like a cabbage", it's the opposite of civilized discourse.

I was taking the "you fucking suck" remark as him just being really passionate about it, possibly before his first coffee, even. I can see his point, I wouldn't word it like that (or perhaps word it at all).

Kamaal never said "this is what you should do," he said "this is how it is."

You guys are behaving disgracefully.

Seems like the capitalist machine is doing what it's doing. Someone is going in and generating profit which is pretty much how it's supposed to be.

Now whether someone who has that specific goal in mind is better at generating profit than someone who's not soulless is a separate question. But at the end of the day it's hard to blame an individual when it's a systematic problem.

http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus...

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