Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 553 posts

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#111

Post by nocoiner »

lokar wrote: post #55
nocoiner wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. How did the Windsurf investors feel about that?

They got paid out as well. Meta pulled the same thing recently. So, a new trend where big tech “buys out” a startup in a way that only early VCs, founders and top managers get any value.

Thanks for the response.

It’s breaking my brain a little bit that this isn’t a straightforward breach of fiduciary duties to the corporation and its common stockholders. If an acquirer can deal with top management and holders of preferred shares, and scoop out the crown jewels of the corporation, then what’s even the point of using a Delaware corporation to raise capital? Might as well just form a Nevada LLC using an LLC agreement that just says “good luck.”

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#112

Post by bigmadshoe »

crazygringo wrote: post #39
cyanydeez wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the board strokes is: Google should have bought the company. They didnt. They basically bought the employees. They call it a "acquihire". Without these employees, the real value of the company fell, allowing cognition to buy the company. Had the employee taken employement with Google, it's likely their shares in windsurf would have been voided, or otherwise not vested. Who knows, these private corporations are often…

Thank you very much! So it seems like the crux of the issue still isn't clear, because: > Had the employee taken employement with Google, it's likely their shares in windsurf would have been voided, or otherwise not vested. That doesn't make any sense. The shares are already vested, they legally own them. How could they have been voided? The idea of joining Google resulting in a "1% payout" doesn't seem to make any s…

Vested options haven’t been exercised and are typically voided when leaving a company. Just because you vested the options doesn’t mean they are permanently yours, unless you choose to exercise them before leaving.

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#113

Post by Invictus0 »

czbond wrote: post #109
chambers wrote: post #89

https://x.com/ahmaurya/status/1948491614160122308 Garry Tan posted "sounds like a tweet that cost $20M" which he later deleted. Smells like a strong bias against employees in favor of management and founders.

I believe Tan's words were mis-represented. I believe he is saying that it cost Prim $20M and he then wrote that post. I don't think he is insinuating anything else.

He's misrepresenting his own words when he writes a vague tweet like that. Tan is a serial shitposter and is known for blocking thousands of people that even slightly disagree with him.

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#115

Post by bigmadshoe »

nevon wrote: post #12

I must be misunderstanding what he is saying, but I can't figure out what. Once his shares have vested, they are his. What entity forced him to sell his shares for 1% of what they are worth and how could they possibly do that?

Vested options can be voided when you leave a company, unless you want to exercise them.

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#116

Post by blitzar »

SirMaster wrote: post #53

Why do people care so much about what some random guy did in a company acquisition?

Everyone thinks they are the next random person who wins the startup lottery. Dreams of 50 million dollar paydays are brought crashing down when they realise they will be lucky to get 50,000.

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#117

Post by [deleted] »

loire280 wrote: post #79
bagels wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1m isn't enough to really retire in in silicon valley

Sure, but if you're 10+ years into your career and have been financially conservative (i.e. have a positive net worth), a lump sum of $1m could be enough to retire to a lower-cost location.

[deleted]

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#118

Post by cleandreams »

another_twist wrote: post #88
cleandreams wrote: post #82

My base salary was fine but the magic was in the stock. I got a payout on acquisition by a FAANG+ (as first employee). It was only 300K but I put 50K of that into Nvidia. Actually I invested all my payout from my startup stock into tech stocks. And I got a terrific golden handcuffs deal. After that I could afford to retire and I did.

Did you also post this recently in Blind ? If it is so you might want to fuzz the numbers a bit.

Less than 10 years ago but not recent.

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#119

Post by wmf »

nevon wrote: post #12

I must be misunderstanding what he is saying, but I can't figure out what. Once his shares have vested, they are his. What entity forced him to sell his shares for 1% of what they are worth and how could they possibly do that?

It's not entirely clear, but I think Google/DeepMind offered him 1% of (what he thought) the shares were worth and then he refused and then the shares became worth almost nothing because Windsurf was just a husk of its former self.

Re: Windsurf employee #2: I was given a payout of only 1% what my shares where worth

#120

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

gsibble wrote: post #93
stan_kirdey wrote: post #75

Engineers: always negotiate for higher base salaries. In the vast majority of cases—especially during acquihires—your equity will be worth little or nothing. Founders and VCs still get paid; employees rarely do. Don't just accept promises. Ask for the 409A valuation, liquidation preferences, and pay bands. If a company won’t provide transparency, that’s your signal. Equity is a lottery ticket. Salary is money in the…

I tell every engineer always to maximize their cash comp and every founder and investor always says "No, that's such a bad idea! Get more equity!" Yeah, because that is in your interests, not the engineer's.

I remember when my old employer was doing another round of funding

They offered to sell me more shares

I countered that I'd been trying to dump the shares they already gave me and if the shares are truly worth X dollars they should buy them back from me

Anyway glad I quit

Post reply on HN