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The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

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Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#51

Post by moocow01 »

jacquesm wrote: post #37

I really don't get why you'd take money off the table while at the same time growing like crazy and diluting the stock significantly. Porsches and houses worth well over a million $US within 6 months of picking up $250K funding in a year when revenues were projected to hit 1M makes absolutely no sense. They should have simply matched growth to income and ridden the growth-curve instead of diluting and splurging on lu…

Totally agree but this is an unfortunately common behavior. During the dot-com boom many people picked up hugely expensive homes based upon the the perceived value of their shares. We all know how that turned out for most.

Even now I hear of people buying homes way out of their means because they have some stock in the currently hot company of the week that has some assumed paper value.

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#52

Post by colorado_hacker »

crescentfresh wrote: post #50
sachingulaya wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an ugly fight. You file with your labor board. They hold a hearing. There's no lawyers involved. The state will collect a penalty for every day late they were in paying you.

> You file with your labor board. Excuse my ignorance, but there was no union involved far as I can tell. What does this comment mean?

Nothing to do with unions, that's a reference to the state labor board that oversees the labor laws. Basically, if you are someone's employee with an agreement that you will do work for compensated, but then do not receive the compensation, the state can help get your wages.

Here's Colorado's, the states are all similar:

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=12493913...

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#54

Post by WalterBright »

colorado_hacker wrote: post #52
crescentfresh wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You file with your labor board. Excuse my ignorance, but there was no union involved far as I can tell. What does this comment mean?

Nothing to do with unions, that's a reference to the state labor board that oversees the labor laws. Basically, if you are someone's employee with an agreement that you will do work for compensated, but then do not receive the compensation, the state can help get your wages. Here's Colorado's, the states are all similar: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=12493913...

Since he was a contractor, not an employee, labor laws may not apply.

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#55

Post by coffeemug »

ahoyhere wrote: post #38
jacquesm wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vastly many more people get rich with 'lifestyle' companies than get rich with moonshots. They won't be as obscenely rich but several million is definitely nothing strange (Euros or Dollars, pick your poison). VC's won't touch such businesses (and they shouldn't) because the return rate is not worth the hassle for them but that is just a matter of perspective. For founders the life style businesses are typically a sa…

On top of everything you said, folks should step back and realize that VCs or VC-related interests have historically powered all the most-read startup media (TechCrunch, HN, AVC, etc). This has an influence. According to Dow Jones Venturesource, there were only 522 M&As, buyouts, or IPOs in 2011 among venture-backed companies. 522. By contrast, over 300 people are injured by lightning strikes per year, in the US.

522. By contrast, over 300 people are injured by lightning strikes per year, in the US.

While I appreciate your point, this is a very flawed analogy. There are only a few thousand people in a position to shoot for an M&A each year, and a few hundred million people in a position to get hit by lightning. Relative to the number of adults in the U.S., very few people start companies that could potentially be scalable each year, and out of the ones that do, very few scratch the surface of basic competence. So if you do start one, and you're reasonably competent, your odds are actually pretty good.

I also disagree with the assertion that a lifestyle business is easier than a moonshot. In my experience, both take a roughly similar toll on your life, but a lifestyle business doesn't have the upside to make the whole thing worth it. In a software development industry, a family where both partners are professional can bring in > $250k in salary each year working regular full time jobs, which is a very cushy lifestyle. I see no sense in working 16 hour days for a shot at the same salary. If you work that much, might as well make it a moonshot.

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#56

Post by lkrubner »

sachingulaya wrote: post #48
lkrubner wrote: post #47

So, in theory, he is fired for stealing from the company. But then this happens: "Eventually, after months of negotiation, Shaikh says, he got a $50,000 severance payment. He agreed to sell his 317,000 shares in the company for $73,000, less than a fourth of what they had been worth in the Series A round." Does this mean the company was uncertain about whether he was really stealing? I don't think it is normal to pay…

It's not an ugly fight. You file with your labor board. They hold a hearing. There's no lawyers involved. The state will collect a penalty for every day late they were in paying you.

Yes, as someone else said, I was a contractor, so I don't think the labor board has any influence over this

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#57

Post by analyst74 »

PakG1 wrote: post #20
_sentient wrote: post #13

Did anyone else get the impression that this guy is a major slime ball? I'm sure YouSendIt has issues at the top, and it does sound like Kumaran may be a little glory hungry. But when you happily engage in vengeful DDOS attacks, shitty app spam, and flip apparently stolen websites, it paints a pretty clear picture of your character. I know I sure wouldn't want a guy like Shaikh working for me. Not in a million years.

Ditto. The guy bled for the company yeah, but the reason why I feel sympathy for him is not because he was kicked out despite working so hard. Even though he might have bled for the company and worked with executives with questionable integrity and technical appreciation, he deserved to be kicked out as soon as he stole the switches and put them up on eBay. No, the reason why I feel sympathy for this guy is that he w…

This is very close to what I feel. While I sympathize with how socially inept he was, he did make those mistakes himself, lack of skill is not excuse.

After all, there are many socially inept people who manage to live happily as they are; there are many more people who made mistake and learned from them.

"The man of pity, must have his share of blame"

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#58

Post by shareme »

WalterBright wrote: post #54
colorado_hacker wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing to do with unions, that's a reference to the state labor board that oversees the labor laws. Basically, if you are someone's employee with an agreement that you will do work for compensated, but then do not receive the compensation, the state can help get your wages. Here's Colorado's, the states are all similar: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=12493913...

Since he was a contractor, not an employee, labor laws may not apply.

PLus the aspect that he doesn't have citizenship

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#59

Post by j_hancock76 »

_sentient wrote: post #13

Did anyone else get the impression that this guy is a major slime ball? I'm sure YouSendIt has issues at the top, and it does sound like Kumaran may be a little glory hungry. But when you happily engage in vengeful DDOS attacks, shitty app spam, and flip apparently stolen websites, it paints a pretty clear picture of your character. I know I sure wouldn't want a guy like Shaikh working for me. Not in a million years.

"...and flip apparently stolen websites" Can someone explain this to me. I understand stealing a website's content but how do you steal a website?

Re: The Forgotten Founder: A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge

#60

Post by jpdoctor »

lkrubner wrote: post #47

So, in theory, he is fired for stealing from the company. But then this happens: "Eventually, after months of negotiation, Shaikh says, he got a $50,000 severance payment. He agreed to sell his 317,000 shares in the company for $73,000, less than a fourth of what they had been worth in the Series A round." Does this mean the company was uncertain about whether he was really stealing? I don't think it is normal to pay…

> it would involve an ugly fight, with a lot of ugly accusations. I gave up the fight.

Why did ugly accusations frighten you away from the fight? It might be what they were counting on, in fact.

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