Comment by swartkrans | Hacker News Reader

Comment by swartkrans | Hacker News Reader

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> Because of his management style, just about every rails dev in Toronto has been through the company. They seem to go through waves of employees (40+ down to 15 and back again) every six months to a year.

I don't know and I wasn't there, but this sounds like the Steve Jobs wanna-be style of leadership. There is this myth of Steve Jobs leadership prowess and dictator style rule which probably has some element of truth, but everyone of these founders that try to emulate this myth thinking it will lead them to success.

You should nice to your employees, you should treat them with respect. You should give them reasonable working hours, reward them for their work, not fuck them and their families over for your vision of a how a silly picture site ought to be. Startup employees make dog shit for pay, and they get a good dog shit's worth of equity. A fraction of a percent is nothing unless the company sells for north of $50mil, maybe a nice bonus after that and not life changing until you're up in the hundreds of millions, a height few start ups ever reach. So just be nice. Startup employees are there for the experience, not for the money, unless they don't understand how startup equity works.

> unless they don't understand how startup equity works.

Which is, in my experience, most of them.

Really? This is definitely not true in my experience. Most startup employees I've talked to absolutely know that 1%, 10% 30%, whatever, of nothing (or practically nothing) is still nothing. They're not in it for the rare chance that their 0.5% or less earns them upwards of $1M.

I work in a startup, and I know that my equity is peanuts, but I have really no idea about how to use it. Someone should make a talk about it.

There's a lot of material you can find and read about online. Please do it.

Your "equity" is most likely "options" which means as you vest them (usually on a vesting schedule, look at your contract) you have the option to purchase (or exercise, because some types of equity can be rewarded without buying them) shares at a specified strike price.

In finance, an option is a contract which gives the buyer (the owner) the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date.

I've been a founder, of multiple companies. You're most likely being screwed but the founders are most likely going to be screwed too; dilution sucks unless you've got low burn and high revenue (which gives you an upper-hand in dealing with investors). Generally as a founder too, the number one killer is running out of money, so when the funding ball starts to roll we (the founders) typically ride it hard as we can, which unless you're an established 10x-making-founder, means the founders get diluted hard.

One of these days I want to make enough from a venture to build one with an upper-hand on the investors, I definitely want to create an environment where people are having fun, working hard, and also are rewarded handsomely with ownership in the company. Igalia is an inspiring example I think.

Fred Wilson from USV had a few posts about it:

* http://avc.com/2010/10/employee-equity-options/ * http://avc.com/2010/11/employee-equity-how-much/ * http://avc.com/2010/11/employee-equity-vesting/ * http://avc.com/2010/09/employee-equity-2/ * http://www.atguy.com/2012/04/employee-equity-by-fred-wilson....

0.5% is way more than most employees get. 0.5% is like employee #1 or #2.

I've worked with Oleg before he founded 500px. He's one of the most outgoing and enthusiastic people I've ever met. Definitely not a Steve Jobs imitator (I've worked for a couple of those too). Whatever the story was within 500px, I'm pretty sure it did not involve him being an asshole.

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