241–250 of 300 posts
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Wow. $20k seems like a paltry sum to end a friendship over.
I struggle to find any situation where 20k is a paltry sum
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The purpose of a hiring process (as in take home assignment) is to see that the person is competent to do the job. It was already established that he was. So following a formal process is a stupid waste of time (on both ends) that has nothing to do with strengthening the company and is simply an unnecessary ego trip. The company disqualified itself.
How was it established?
To the company it was never, and as high a recommendation as the CEO would be; most people would agree they did the right thing. Unless you're hired before a hiring manager or whomever is doing the hiring you should follow the process. If you treat it like a joke because you feel entitled by your connections then be willing to accept the outcome.
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It's wild that you said that amount because that was exactly the number. I have other friendships that have been tested for similar amounts that have survived. But, it leaves a mark. I had an ex-employee who worked for me under starvation wages in a startup long ago. He was upset about that and some tax implications, and brought it up with me. I gave him a smallish lump sum and enabled him to put a down payment on a…
Wow. $20k seems like a paltry sum to end a friendship over.
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Wow. $20k seems like a paltry sum to end a friendship over.
This forum is so out of touch with reality sometimes I'm just left blinking and shaking my head. 20,000 dollars is an enormous amount of money to a supermajority of people in the developed world. Almost half an annual wage for most industrial workers in the EU and US.
1. I made a lot of money and company was successful.
2. Friends feel left behind and resentment grows over your lifestyle, etc.
3. Friends stop talking to you or become very short with you.
There's an old aphorism that goes something like "don't get loans from family". I consider people worth calling friends to be similar to family. I also don't have close family connections at that level. Guess that means I put more importance on friendship. I've had the experience one time of cofounding a company with a friend. It didn't end badly, but it wasn't ideal. I realized pretty quickly I was going to be solel…
I made a rule a long time ago not to lend money to friends or family. If I have the money and they need it, I'm usually willing to give them the money, and if they choose to give it back later, I'll be appreciative, but putting that expectation on it seems to be a good way to ruin relationships. I've also learned the hard way never to hire friends, even for short-term projects like fixing a plumbing problem when the…
It might be couched as a loan, but I will never ask for it back... Whether they pay me back or not makes for an interesting measure of the friendship.
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This is like reading the early chapters of a fiction story about an alternate universe. What, to you, is the difference between these two situations? 1. One person decides to form a company and has all the shares. After six months, he realizes he should really have worked with a cofounder, so he closes that business and opens a brand new one with this cofounder, the two of them now equally owning half the shares. 2.…
First sentence I agree with, but I don’t understand your hypothetical. #2 is what usually happens, and non-co-founder very high level early employees don’t usually get 50% or anywhere close. If the original founder made any progress and has anything of value in the first six months, a 2nd co-founder may not get 50% in either case.
If you get six months into "working" on a project and realize you're missing some core skill, "hire" someone. Call them "cofounder." Give them an appropriate amount of the shares.
It's exactly the same in the end as closing one business and starting a new one that's divvied up the same way.
I'm arguing that being able to give important employees a stake in the company is just good sense, and having to "sell them on the open market" instead is about as inane an idea as I've heard this year.
In my second year in college, I started to freelance and had a decent income. On graduation, I decided to keep doing that since I was making way more money from freelancing than most jobs will offer to newgrads. A friend(who I have known since 6-7th standard and we were together for ~4 years) had been asking me to join his company and a mutual also suggested that I should try it out.
I was really conflicted so I went to reddit for advice, Every one there told me not to do it and then I decided to join anyway.
My pay went from ~3500usd/mo(from freelancing) to ~700usd/mo(this is india, So not completely horrible but pretty bad). I had no experience with negotiations and I assumed he didn't have enough money so I didn't ask for more. I dropped freelancing because the contract stated I could not do paid work for more than 5 hours a month.
In 3-4 years I have been here, My pay went from 700 -> 1000 -> 1200 -> 2000 -> 3000(Year 3). After this, They offered a low raise of just ~200 usd(It was slightly higher but due to some tax issues and in the form this extra raise was issued, I would've netted 200 usd). I asked them for 3800 and they offered 4000 usd/mo but then decided to put an extra condition, I can not ask for a raise next year and this is 4k usd/mo for 2 years.
I am one of the oldest person working at this place after the 2 cofounders and 1 other person and I help with almost every thing in my scope and any thing and every thing they need help with.
A few months back, The person handling HR duties added link to a page, I didn't know what it was. I opened and it was compensation data for everyone. Turns out, I am the least paid employee at this place outside of interns and recently hired community managers. (The other people with similar responsibilities and yoe at this place are compensated 12-20k/mo)
I have handled _ALL_ technical infra for this place and I fully own some core backend services. The compensation issue has been bothering me, I assumed they'll pay fairly but I guess not.
I had a good grip on competitive programming(back when I was in college) and I was actively working on a few different side projects(nothing impressive looking back at it now). All of that is dead after 4 years of working at this place. I want to work at good companies but they require a skillset I do not have, I have aging parents so I am too scared to just quit and find another job. I do have good amount of savings(saved 80% of paycheck every month) but I am still scared to quit and find new jobs.
This place has completely broken me and I am tired. I still maintain a friendly relationship with the friend and I probably will continue to do it when/if i leave this place. I only hope they realize they have not been fair to others.
I now never speak to him or my sister anymore. Only fights and blocked social media accounts and have given up ever seeing my sister again.
So at least for family: Don't do it. It's not that big of a problem to never see a specific friend again but they have driven me out of my mom's side of the family, I can never see my sister again.
Not worth it.
It ruined the friendship. I was uninformed on how stock grants worked and trusted their advice. They said "I'll take care of you." They made millions from the venture. I was able to buy a motorcycle.