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I sold Baremetrics

baremetrics.com

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Re: I sold Baremetrics

#111

Post by yojo »

pc86 wrote: post #21
dimva wrote: post #10

$3.7 million sounds like a lot of money, but he could have earned more than that over 7 years if he just took a mid-level job at a FAMANG company. EDIT: saw that the founder lives in Birmingham, Alabama. So yes, $3.7 million IS a lot of money.

It averages out to $420k/yr. There's this sentiment on HN that "all you have to do" is get a job at a big tech company and you'll make a million dollars a year. It's idiotic, and not true. Yes, there are people who make $500k+ writing code in a cubicle for 40 hours a week. They are the vast, vast, vast minority compared to the people a) making $100-200k doing the same thing; b) making that $500k+ doing everything but…

Not necessarily true. I was a mid level product engineer at a recently IPOd company (joined 2 years pre IPO). My base salary was $200k, and the stock and bonus more than doubled that.

There was a little bit of “pick the rocket ship” gamble - I had an Uber offer that probably would have been ended more like $250k/year, but it’s not unreasonable to get half a mill joining a late stage pre-IPO startup, and base salary is high enough you do it with little risk.

Hell, I know some mid-level post-IPO folks at Square making $700k due to it 10xing in share price.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#113

Post by mooreds »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #61
pc86 wrote: post #12

I know there's a trope about the naive founder getting screwed by shifty-eyed VC sharks, but it really sounds like Josh screwed his investors and employees here. > I wanted them to at least get their money back, but ultimately, for the $4m purchase price to work, we’d need to ask them to walk on their [$800,000] investment. He clearly didn't want it very badly, then. Nearly $3 million wasn't enough? That's about $420…

Not making any other assumptions here, but I think this is a great example of something that's become more and more obvious to HNers over the past few years: from a financial perspective, if you have an opportunity to join a FAANG vs a startup, it pretty much almost always makes financial sense (usually much more sense) to join the FAANG. And since it usually makes a LOT more financial sense, it can often make a lot…

> Of course, not everyone can get an offer at a FAANG

Note that this is true for many reasons, not all of which are related to technical ability. Not everyone should try to get a FAANG job, either.

Factors candidates may consider:

* how much time they want to spend interviewing/prepping

* what their previous experience has been

* where they went to school

* where they are willing to live

* what type of work they like to do

* what type of organizations they enjoy being part of (largeco, smallco)

* how much control they want over their work

* what kind of impact they want to have

* how much they want to learn (and what type of knowledge--general vs specific)

In addition to salary, all of these play a role in determining whether a startup, small biz, other software company or FAANG make sense for an individual.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#114

Post by eli »

czbond wrote: post #89
andygcook wrote: post #85

@shpigford - Are you able to exempt your exit from capital gains under the QSBS tax laws? For those curious, more here: https://www.brownadvisory.com/us/qsbs-tax-exemption-valuable...

Founders can, his situation varies. Either QSBS or ideally through 83(b) (where one pays all taxes on company stock at founding in first 30'ish days).

You misunderstand 83b, that’s just about paying the income tax on restricted stock grants up front instead of as it vests. You still would owe gains on the appreciation of the stock. QSBS allows some or all of the gains to be tax free.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#115

Post by intev »

falcolas wrote: post #82
twox2 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, which is why it's good that this stuff is being shared. It's a datapoint to consider for those of us as we make career choices. But let's face it, if we are not founders, then we are just "the help".

And without “the help”, most founders (OP included) won’t make it to the sale. You can’t scale without “the help”. You can’t grow your market without “the help”. To badly paraphrase someone: “The idea isn’t what’s valuable, the implementation is.” That implementation is probably >90% thanks to “the help”.

There's a sense of entitlement here that's not sitting well with me. Don't get me wrong, I think employees of a "startup" deserve to get some sort of payout during a liquidation event, but I think that payout should be directly proportional to how much risk was assumed.

Did they take a full standard salary? (Doesn't have to be SV 100k+ salaries, but standard for whatever is paid in their area). Did they do more than just code? etc etc

By your logic, the butcher who worked for market wages in a meat processing company should get a big pay day because Nestle decided to buy them.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#116

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

bob33212 wrote: post #72
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not making any other assumptions here, but I think this is a great example of something that's become more and more obvious to HNers over the past few years: from a financial perspective, if you have an opportunity to join a FAANG vs a startup, it pretty much almost always makes financial sense (usually much more sense) to join the FAANG. And since it usually makes a LOT more financial sense, it can often make a lot…

A startup makes sense if you are looking to do something different or to expand you skillset. Working at a major corporation can feel stifling over time. The important thing to understand that there is almost 0% chance that your "1-4%" ownership will ever be more than 6 figures.

Agreed, but that's why my argument is that if you have the chance to work at a FAANG, work there first, then you can easily afford to take time off and do whatever you want after a few years.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#117

Post by ryansouza »

Shpigford wrote: post #29
high_derivative wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what did employees get?

Depends on the employees and when they joined and if they exercised stock options or not. Big range from a few thousand to over $80,000.

Did you also take a salary during these years?

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#118

Post by remote_phone »

gadders wrote: post #55
ffdjjjffjj wrote: post #45

Wait, so your investors lose money, your employees (probably just a few) got at most $80k, and you get to retire? I mean, congrats on the hustle, but I wouldn’t waste your time trying to make it look good for everyone else.

The founder usually carries the majority of the risk as well.

It sounds like he put in no money of his own.

He would not have made $3.7M without the hard work of his employees. And yet when it came down to it, he took almost all the money for himself.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#119

Post by Tade0 »

elric wrote: post #65
pc86 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It averages out to $420k/yr. There's this sentiment on HN that "all you have to do" is get a job at a big tech company and you'll make a million dollars a year. It's idiotic, and not true. Yes, there are people who make $500k+ writing code in a cubicle for 40 hours a week. They are the vast, vast, vast minority compared to the people a) making $100-200k doing the same thing; b) making that $500k+ doing everything but…

As a Belgian, I can't help but look at these numbers in disbelief. 100-200k/annum for churning out code 40 hours a week? Where do I sign up for this? I'm the best paid employee I know, work insane hours, and I'm not even in that bracket. Addendum: it's very rare to make more than twice the average wage in Belgium as an employee. It's a different matter if you're self employed.

Google in Switzerland my friend.

Or generally contract work in Switzerland.

This year for a brief, beautiful moment(two months) I was making 750CHF daily before taxes.

Regular, experienced employees can count on 100k+ before taxes.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#120

Post by tiffanyh »

So if they sold for $4M, and the investors got $0, and the founder pocketed $3.7M ... where did the other $0.3M go?

If it went to the existing employees (they have 7 of them on the About Us page), that's ~$42k per employee.

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