111–120 of 204 posts
Is it time to spin up http://fuckedcompany.com/ again?
I remember interviewing with them about 2-3 years ago. Everyone seemed very enthused, but no one was able to clearly articulate for me what it was that made their product/offerings different. Glad I dodged that bullet
Kind of a shame that yet another one of the few startups pushing for a four day work week turns out to be run by incompetents (Treehouse), and another founder who challenges the VC establishment turns out to be a two-faced charlatan (Basecamp).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can the SEC pursue Bolt for this?
No, and not just because it’s not a publicly traded security. They did nothing illegal. Maybe it should be but sadly it’s not.
FYI, this is irrelevant with respect to the SEC's jurisdiction [1].
[1] https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-bulletins/ib_privat...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn’t all this smell ENRON’ish?
In what sense? Searching Enron's Wikipedia article I couldn't find any references to employees getting loans to buy stock. The only way they're similar is "dubious company crashes and burns, employee's equity turn worthless", but even then the similarity is limited because Enron was a case of fraud and bolt isn't (at least to my knowledge).
It's Enron-ish because it's a deal that creates additional demand for the stock, then when the price of the stock rises, it's used as proof that doing deals with company stock is profitable to all parties, which makes it more enticing in the future. When the stock falls (always unthinkable), the rank and file are holding the bag.
Boy do I hate how ISO options are treated by the IRS for startup employees. It puts an insane amount of risk on the employee in both coming up with the cash to exercise(bolt offered loans for this part) and then the worst part, being taxed on unrealized gains. The latter to me seems completely against how the rest of the tax code when it comes to stock based assets. And it leaves employees who are not well informed o…
- If you join as an early employee, your strike price is minimal and this isn't a concern at all - If you want to minimize risk in return for higher taxes (call ~40%), just hold your ISOs and exercise-and-sell as a same-day sale when you're liquid (ie forgo the tax advantages of ISOs). There's absolutely no way for you to get screwed over if you're willing to take the gain as standard income.
1. accept compensation in ISOs, likely taking a salary hit
2. exercise, and pay AMT in the exercise year on the spread
3. hold until you can sell, but at least for 12+ months so you qualify for LTCG treatment
So you get hit with a lower cash comp in (1) which is an opportunity cost. Then you have to pay taxes in (2) maybe well before the stock is ever liquid in any way. Then you still have to wait for liquidity (3).
Plus normally the company does not tell you, an ordinary employee, when its beginning fundraising. If it did, you could at least time your exercise so as to minimize spread.
Conversely if I want to take a bet on a public company which I have no relationship to, I just buy and hold. Why is it easier to get favorable treatment for a company I have nothing to do with, versus one that I helped build?
What people don’t know is the CEO Ryan Breslinlow founded the company that constructed the loans. He played both sides.
Do they think they can get people to pay money back after terminating their employment?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
- If you join as an early employee, your strike price is minimal and this isn't a concern at all - If you want to minimize risk in return for higher taxes (call ~40%), just hold your ISOs and exercise-and-sell as a same-day sale when you're liquid (ie forgo the tax advantages of ISOs). There's absolutely no way for you to get screwed over if you're willing to take the gain as standard income.
except in cases where you are let go or decide to leave.
The IRS is only involved at the time of exercise [1][2]. Companies are the ones making ISOs expire, versus convert to NSOs, three months following termination of employment.
[1] https://thestartuplawblog.com/incentive-stock-options-post-t...
[2] https://www.cooleygo.com/isos-v-nsos-whats-the-difference/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> How can fellow SWEs who learnt about kernels, networks and hardware (among other incredibly complicated works) get excited about ONE CLICK CHECKOUT? I'd be willing to bet like 80-90% of SWEs are just people who write code 9-5, have little passion for the job, and just collect paychecks like most people in America. HN and Slashdot and so forth provide a very skewed view on our profession. So when Bolt offers people…
I had a former coworker who has a doctorate in physics with an emphasis in nuclear engineering, then a masters in CS. She ended up coding Rails at a startup because it paid better. The market demands its CRUD.
It's starting to make sense that he did to shift the blame and deflect.
Having said that I don't think this is going to play out well for him. It was a huge mistake to get half of your staff to take on personal debt for stock options that mount to nothing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
- If you join as an early employee, your strike price is minimal and this isn't a concern at all - If you want to minimize risk in return for higher taxes (call ~40%), just hold your ISOs and exercise-and-sell as a same-day sale when you're liquid (ie forgo the tax advantages of ISOs). There's absolutely no way for you to get screwed over if you're willing to take the gain as standard income.
But if you actually want to have and hold equity in a company you helped build, and want the most favorable tax treatment, you have to 1. accept compensation in ISOs, likely taking a salary hit 2. exercise, and pay AMT in the exercise year on the spread 3. hold until you can sell, but at least for 12+ months so you qualify for LTCG treatment So you get hit with a lower cash comp in (1) which is an opportunity cost. T…