506 karma · joined June 7, 2016
So says Wu-Tang Clan and apparently YC.
What an absurd argument. Is it possible instead that people are capable of believing that sea levels are rising and the US government wouldn't allow $500B worth of GDP to sink into the Bay?
It's called talking your book, which isn't illegal, but wildly disingenuous. FOMO is why the number keeps going up, these other reasons are window dressing for utter nonsense.
After years of VC's talking about how too much money is floating around creating over-priced unicorns, Masayoshi Son is going to end up injecting a trillion more dollars into the private market.
Employees need to start demanding that their employers create regular buyback/secondary programs to make up for the restrictions on their illiquid stock. It should be a straight forward part of the performance review process: "Here's some more stock, here's some more salary, how much of your existing stock (eg. up to 10%) would you like to sell in the next buyback?"
Companies like Slack are never going to go public in this sort of environment and its the employees that suffer the most. The public not being able to participate in startup gains is a legitimate issue, but they're not the ones creating the value in these companies.
I think people don't recognize how "little" money you need to replicate a big salary. 14M at 3% is $420k/yr. And as long as you don't spend every last dollar, that number keeps going up...forever.
Build whatever you want at that point.
It's the same reason Twitter, even though they threatened to move their office from SF to Brisbane several years ago, absolutely would never have followed through with it. Too many of their employees would have quit immediately, and we're talking about a town that's 20 minutes away, let alone 2 hours.
Have you ever spoken to an African American what it's like to hail a cab? Read the estimates on the number of drunk drivers taken off the road?
Of course they do.
_delirium already said it, but it bears repeating since so many are confused.
The article skips over the board entirely, but Travis must have been blindsided by his co-founder Garret Camp and early CEO Ryan Graves for this to have transpired. The board likely threatened to fire him unless he resigned, because there's no way Travis walks away because of this investor letter. It's more than likely the letter just provided the air cover his old friends needed to send him packing.
edit: For those replying that Travis has control of the board, please cite your sources. Being the majority shareholder using dual-class stock is a much different thing. Shareholders elect board members, but you can't remove investors' board seats, that language is boilerplate in financing documents.
Uber does not need the backing of the investors from the letter to remain solvent. With the exception of Fidelity, these aren't big players. Hundreds would take their place immediately given the chance.
It's a fun cultural experience when you compare it to the throngs of folks waiting for a random sunday brunch in SF or NYC, and the omakase menu was utterly outstanding.
I've also had the great fortune of securing a reservation at Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi Hills (the son of "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"). The meal was extraordinary, but the formality of being watched during every bite (and scolded for holding my chopsticks at a angle instead of perfectly horizontal) meant that Sushi Dai was actually a more enjoyable experience even with the wait.
Just my two cents.
The continuing problem is this hasn't changed much at all in the last half century. For example, you will not find one unattractive receptionist at any VC office on Sand Hill Rd.