Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#191

Post by supernovae » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 3:38 PM UTC

owenversteeg wrote: post #5

Anyone who just cares about the numbers: he was given options of 45,000 shares, of which 15,000 had vested. These 15,000, or 0.0833% of the company, were available to him at $0.27/share, or $4,050 total. So he had the opportunity to buy 0.0833% of the company at a $4.8MM valuation. Given that they recently raised $20MM at an undefined valuation it really says something that he chose not to exercise the options. I rea…

you don't actually need 5 grand to buy the options, you just sell 5 grand worth and keep the difference. Sounds like he may have walked away from a lot of money.. he would have had a 34,000 dollar check.. paid out ~25% in taxes and been ahead.. oh well

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#192

Post by dang » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 3:47 PM UTC

educar wrote: post #107

I disagree. I appreciate his courage in posting this. As an employer, this won't stop me at all from hiring him. I would definitely think about hiring you though, specially being so condescending as if you have seen it all.

This crosses into personal attack. That's not allowed here, regardless of how wrong someone else may be, so please don't do it in HN comments.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14038453.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#193

Post by SomeHacker44 » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 4:07 PM UTC

sytse is very active on HN whenever GitLab comes up, but not at all active on this thread.

That's almost certainly wise on his part. I know I endeavor never to discuss (someone other than my personal) employment issues publicly, for myriad legal and ethical reasons.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#194

Post by throwawaygl » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 4:14 PM UTC

gkoberger wrote: post #24

As someone who knows the CEO of GitLab, I can say nothing but amazing things about him. (Even reading through this article, you'll find nothing in it that casts a negative light on the CEO.) I'm sure there's a ton left out, and this seems like a bitter hit piece rather than a well-thought-out, balanced critique of a company.

Your relationship to the GitLab CEO is that of a peer, not of an employee. The power dynamic is entirely different.

Most stories of unfairly treated employees are never published, of course.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#195

Post by vinceguidry » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 4:33 PM UTC

educar wrote: post #189

vinceguidry wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend the idealist is way less happy than I am. I submit that he would be happier if he had more say, more money, and more flexibility at his job, but he threw that all away in the name of idealism. I agree, identity trumps economics, but there is such a thing as having more principles than sense.

For many, Happiness is not a goal of life. Rightful living is. See Buddha, Gandhi, MLK etc. Sure, You might be happier than them but that hardly means anything

These people you are holding up as paragons were way more political than you probably remember reading about. Particularly Gandhi. The only difference between their politics and your politics is that they actually accomplished things.

Not being willing to get political dooms you to a life of both mediocrity and misery.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#196

Post by barrkel » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 5:22 PM UTC

exclusiv wrote: post #85

barrkel wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEO rightly advised I don't think it's right at all. What gives him that right? Why is it morally wrong to do otherwise? What kind of right are you talking about?

It was a fair request to have a key member link to GitLab. Employees can be told what to do. You don't have to comply, but when you get a fair request and you make a big deal of it - you have to be prepared for the consequences. Contractors - no you can't do that stuff; you can't tell them when or how to work... they have a lot of protections. The CEO request to change the link wasn't unreasonable. Why would a CEO wa…

I think this is a cultural misunderstanding. An employer might tell me what to do while I'm at work, working on something that creates value for the company. Communicating with third parties out of work, when I'm not speaking for the company - I don't agree, unless it's actually illegal or harassing etc.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#197

Post by nojvek » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 7:03 PM UTC

dano wrote: post #185

owenversteeg wrote: post #5

Anyone who just cares about the numbers: he was given options of 45,000 shares, of which 15,000 had vested. These 15,000, or 0.0833% of the company, were available to him at $0.27/share, or $4,050 total. So he had the opportunity to buy 0.0833% of the company at a $4.8MM valuation. Given that they recently raised $20MM at an undefined valuation it really says something that he chose not to exercise the options. I rea…

Just did a bit more math here. Given the numbers above, if the company is valued at $100m and not adding shares, the valuation could be ~$5.60 per share. When buying ISO's you need to pay for the shares and pay the taxes on the difference between the strike price ($0.27) and the fair market value on the date of purchase. Therefore, in this example, tax would be owed on ($5.60 - $0.27) * 15000 or $79k in paper gain. D…

After reading the article, I think author is not very confident that Gitlab will go for a big IPO. $4k is not a lot of money, but the taxes can really get you. And it gets even worse if GitLab dies before going to IPO or their IPO is nowhere near the current valuation. He can lose a lot of money in the process.

I also feel OP not investing in a company that he feels doesn't have the best interest of employees in mind is a good stance. Gitlab's reputation is tainted in my mind.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#198

Post by pcvarmint » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 7:04 PM UTC

exclusiv wrote: post #85

barrkel wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEO rightly advised I don't think it's right at all. What gives him that right? Why is it morally wrong to do otherwise? What kind of right are you talking about?

It was a fair request to have a key member link to GitLab. Employees can be told what to do. You don't have to comply, but when you get a fair request and you make a big deal of it - you have to be prepared for the consequences. Contractors - no you can't do that stuff; you can't tell them when or how to work... they have a lot of protections. The CEO request to change the link wasn't unreasonable. Why would a CEO wa…

OP said he was a contractor, not an employee.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#199

Post by nojvek » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 7:07 PM UTC

danaliv wrote: post #36

Being publicly critical of a former employer like this, unless you're talking about major ethical issues, seems like a bad move. There's just no way to do it without it coming across as sour grapes. If you have constructive criticism because you believe in a company and want them to do better, give it directly to the people involved. Otherwise I just have to wonder what the real motive is behind making a public state…

I think this is great for the rest of the developer community getting first hand feedback like this. Why would another developer want to work for GitLab? Same with Uber.

Re: Why I will not exercise my GitLab stock options

#200

Post by zem » Wed, Apr 05, 2017, 7:08 PM UTC

FullMtlAlcoholc wrote: post #181

syshum wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh so if you work for Dodge you can only buy a dodge?

My father worked for Chrysler and has only bought Chrysler cars. The lot at the HQ was filled with over 95%+ Chrysler cars. It's not a requirement, but it hints at not believing in the company you work for. Imagine the drama if Uber's CEO preferred to use Lyft. If you don't have confidence in the product, it implies that you are just there to collect a paycheck. The optics from an outsider is that you have no confide…

i've worked on lots of things where the internals presented interesting technical challenges, but where the product itself was nothing i would personally use. there's nothing wrong with that. sports teams are not a fair analogy; they're about loyalty and tribal affiliation, whereas work is about getting stuff done.