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I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

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31–40 of 328 posts

Re: I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

#31

It's really quite simple: you assume it's all worthless, because that's how it starts and that's how it generally ends. Even if it were going to be worth something, you'd have been better off taking the money up front and investing it however you wanted in the meantime. But it doesn't really matter, because you have no control over this anyway. All you have to do is decide whether the salary is high enough; the rest…

As an employee you can also have a positive effect on the outcome of the company.

Re: I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

#32
post #19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope the following is helpful rather than confusing - feel free to ask any clarifying questions. Also, I will preface this with the fact that I am an engineer and not a finance person. I may be subtly wrong on some points and I am happy to be corrected by those with more knowledge on these topics. Liquidity preferences - Also described in the article as "investors escape safely on Preference stacks", investors usua…

Thank you. The jargon seems to be the biggest stumbling block here, the concepts make sense. If there is a "Finance for Hackers" out there I would love to read it.

"Finance for Dummies"

Re: I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

#33
post #13
post #2

I don't understand most of the financial terms used in this article. Where do I start?

I hope the following is helpful rather than confusing - feel free to ask any clarifying questions. Also, I will preface this with the fact that I am an engineer and not a finance person. I may be subtly wrong on some points and I am happy to be corrected by those with more knowledge on these topics. Liquidity preferences - Also described in the article as "investors escape safely on Preference stacks", investors usua…

Hi Uiri - excellent summary. To add:

Ratchet - when companies raise a down round, investors who invested at a higher valuation get issued additional shares. This effectively adjusts the price/valuation they paid. The number of shares issued depends on the type of 'ratchet' investors have. There are two main types of ratchets: 'weighted-average' and 'full-ratchet'; the latter is not company/employee friendly and is no longer common. For employees, what this means is that if there is a down round their equity will get more heavily diluted than they expect, because additional shares are issued to compensate investors who invested at a higher valuation.

IPO protections - you are correct. In late stage/pre-IPO financings, these protect investors from an IPO occurring at a lower valuation than they came in at, either through outright 'blocking rights' (preventing such an IPO from happening) or, as above, through ratchets that adjust their share price/valuation. Such IPO protection terms have increased in 2015/2016.

Re: I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

#35

> one of the reasons I chose to work on Wall Street prior to joining a start-up was to fully grasp the financing terms of the companies for which I would later work. And this is also the reason why I'm very wary about equity. I'd certainly want to work for a company that's going to do well financially, regardless of how I'm being compensated, but I have only a layman's understanding of business and finance. I'm simpl…

Then you should educate yourself. Take a class or two at your local community college or do some research online. It's extremely vital that you have a good understanding of the financial world we live in. Knowing a thing or two about some of the basics will help you in the long run, regardless of whether it's related to compensation or equity.

Re: I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

#37

> So talk to the CFO about the numbers — when you’re hired, when it’s fundraising time, and any time in between. Hahahaha, oh man so here's the part where I just dump all my emails about the answers I have gotten back from CFOs over the last decade: - "common stock shareholders aren't privy to financial details" - "we don't share that information" - "I discussed it with the board [consisting of myself] and they decid…

> common stock shareholders aren't privy to financial details Delaware law lets you make a Section 220 request [1] to inspect a corporation's books and records for a proper purpose, e.g. to identify potential buyers and sellers or for investment valuation purposes. [1] http://www.pepperlaw.com/publications/what-every-corporate-c...

Thanks! Now is there any trendy company that streamlines this service?

Re: I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

#38
For those wishing to take up the author's claim of understanding their compensation, Brian Krausz gave a great talk about this subject, titled "Demystifying Startup Job Offers"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y13tqllSros

Worth watching if you're looking for a nice starting off point for some of these areas.

Re: I Don’t Care How Well You Code, Understand Your Compensation

#40

It's really quite simple: you assume it's all worthless, because that's how it starts and that's how it generally ends. Even if it were going to be worth something, you'd have been better off taking the money up front and investing it however you wanted in the meantime. But it doesn't really matter, because you have no control over this anyway. All you have to do is decide whether the salary is high enough; the rest…

This can be applied to everything why bother making an informed decision about choice of University or Spouse or anything else. Your explanation is a self fullfiling prophecy disguised as if it was some wise advice. In reality employees can and should make informed decisions, this advice is equivalent of covering ears and screaming bla bla bla. Power is given to those who demand it. If you start with assumption of be…

If you walk into a casino you're going to lose money. I don't even know the rules of any of the games and I can tell you that. Some situations are so tilted in favour of one side or the other that it's not worth trying to compete on that playing field.

Valuing the options at zero and demanding adequate salary without them is the opposite of meekness.

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