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GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

forbes.com

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Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#71

Post by e1g »

sytse wrote: post #65
grizzles wrote: post #30

Is it profitable though?

Not close to being profitable since we're optimizing for growth (more than doubling year over year). Cash flow positive planned no later then 2023 https://about.gitlab.com/company/strategy/#sequence

Can you confirm if GitLab increased revenue 10x in 2018? A previous profile stated the revenue was $10M in 2017 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrocremades/2019/07/21/he...) and this article says it is now $100M. This is a phenomenal achievement, but the valuation ought to be more than $1B at that trajectory.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#72

Post by dboreham »

bennyelv wrote: post #22
disko wrote: post #14

Jeez, his surname is spelled differently 3x in the first couple of paragraphs (Sijbrandij / Sijbrandiij / Sijbrandi). Proof-reading, anyone?

I suspect this could be an SEO trick for people who mis-spell the name when searching.

Ahhh. Finally we understand the genius of "covfefe".

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#73

Post by ellius »

dragonwriter wrote: post #69
tooop wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if somebody in SF was employed remotely by a company in a poorer country? Should the person in SF be paid less because employees in originating country have lower salaries?. Having salaries based on location is fair, the same job that pays 120k$ in SF pays 70k$ in my country and that makes me in top 2% earners in the country. I could argue that i actually get more with 70k$ in my country than somebody with 120k$…

> Having salaries based on location is fair It's no more fair than paying based on lifestyle choices; if any employee in SF is providing labor worth $200k, then an employee in Bucharest providing the same labor is also worth $200k. The fact that the SF employee has higher expenses doesn't make their labor more valuable. Sure, they are paying more to live in a more desirable location, but that no more deserves higher…

But prices aren't based on fairness, they are based on demand and supply. If there is a supply of workers willing to work at a lower price in areas outside of San Francisco, then it makes sense for a company to purchase their cheaper labor if it supplies the same value as the more expensive labor.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#74

Post by lordfoom »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #59
trilila wrote: post #19

Would be interesting to know if they discriminate pay, according to where the person works from. Edit: Further down the page I saw: "Why they pay based on where team members live". That's petty.

This post from GitLab has their official explanation of why they pay local rates: https://about.gitlab.com/2019/02/28/why-we-pay-local-rates/

That's a lot of spin on "to save money".

They mention San Francisco rents, but they fail to mention all the advantages of living in San Francisco. Awesome for the folks in San Fran to have their lifestyle's subsidized.

AND then they spread some FUD with "Remote companies using a standard pay structure are reportedly running into problems with their compensation plans" - nice and vague and ominous. Doesn't even mention what issues they're running into, just "issues".

AND then they end with the weak they " hope location band salaray gaps will continue to narrow", as if they genuinely wish they could pay more, but their hands are tied.

I think gitlab is a great project, but that is some grade A bullshit.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#75

Post by Nerevarine76 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #69
tooop wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if somebody in SF was employed remotely by a company in a poorer country? Should the person in SF be paid less because employees in originating country have lower salaries?. Having salaries based on location is fair, the same job that pays 120k$ in SF pays 70k$ in my country and that makes me in top 2% earners in the country. I could argue that i actually get more with 70k$ in my country than somebody with 120k$…

> Having salaries based on location is fair It's no more fair than paying based on lifestyle choices; if any employee in SF is providing labor worth $200k, then an employee in Bucharest providing the same labor is also worth $200k. The fact that the SF employee has higher expenses doesn't make their labor more valuable. Sure, they are paying more to live in a more desirable location, but that no more deserves higher…

In reality it has nothing to do with fairness, it's a result of real market conditions. An employee in the middle of the country will accept a lower salary than someone in the bay area due to cost-of-living expenses. Same can be said for someone in another country.

Is it 'fair' from a pure salary-to-value ratio? No. But economics isn't about 1-1 'fairness', it's about the allocation of scarce resources at a mutually-agreed upon price, or wage in this case. This is partly why comparing salaries is stupid, especially across locations.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#78

Post by lordfoom »

ThePadawan wrote: post #38
trilila wrote: post #19

Would be interesting to know if they discriminate pay, according to where the person works from. Edit: Further down the page I saw: "Why they pay based on where team members live". That's petty.

FYI Gitlab quite readily publicize their salary calculator at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/global-c... .

Checked it out, and for my region their salary is barely competitive. Must say, I am disappointed by this approach from a company whose product I admire.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#79

Post by Nerevarine76 »

lordfoom wrote: post #70
tooop wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if somebody in SF was employed remotely by a company in a poorer country? Should the person in SF be paid less because employees in originating country have lower salaries?. Having salaries based on location is fair, the same job that pays 120k$ in SF pays 70k$ in my country and that makes me in top 2% earners in the country. I could argue that i actually get more with 70k$ in my country than somebody with 120k$…

>Should the person in SF be paid less because employees in originating country have lower salaries? So in your view it's fine to pay different amounts of money for the same work?

Why would it not be? It's a mutual transaction. If an developer in kansas is willing to accept less than the bay area worker, whose living expenses are twice as much, who is anyone to say that's not allowed? If you forced them to be paid the same then one of them will not be working for you even if they want to; either because you can't afford to hire them both or the bay area engineer can't live on the salary.
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