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I sold Baremetrics

baremetrics.com

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Re: I sold Baremetrics

#121

Post by Jochim »

caffeine wrote: post #66
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…

Why are you making moral judgements on a business decision? The investors didn't HAVE to take a write down, they chose to. The early employees didn't HAVE to join this company, they chose to. Why do you deem it immoral for a founder to do what is best for himself within the bounds of the agreements he has made? This kind of calling-out is common in HN and quite distasteful. Comments like this all amount to saying "X…

> "This kind of calling-out is common in HN and quite distasteful."

Frankly there's nothing distateful about recognising that in a hierarchical system such as a corporation those higher up the tree have a duty of responsibility to protect the interests of those below them.

Quite how modern capitalists have managed to convince people that this shouldn't be the case I'm not quite sure, but the results are hostile to a functioning society.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#123

Post by barry-cotter »

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…

Google L5 is $331K a year according to Levels.fyi Eleven years. L6 is half a mil a year. L3 is new grad. L5 is not superhuman. It’s not mid level but it’s not Staff Engineer either, “just” competent and known to be capable of working with minimal direction. FAANG really do pay very, very well.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#124

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

mooreds wrote: post #113
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…

> 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…

But I'm making the argument that most of the bullet points in your list make no sense to consider because the remuneration at FAANGs is usually so much more, and that money would then give you the freedom to do what you want.

I mean "how much time they want to spend interviewing/prepping"?? If a FAANG will average 2-3x payout, it would be insane not to be willing to prep for literally months if that made the difference between getting a job and not.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#125

Post by ffdjjjffjj »

Swizec wrote: post #108
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…

I think there’s a sweet spot in well-funded Series A companies. You get the benefit of a small team and large impact inside the org which feels nice to a certain kind of person. The company is big and mature enough that you get decent impact on the world as well. Also great for many people And most importantly, the company can afford to pay well. Not quite FAANG level, but plenty for you to reasonably plan to retire…

Not even close to FAANG level compensation in my experience. I’m just a moderately experienced backend/infra person and VC backed startups would straight up tell me they can’t compete when I told them what FAANGs had offered. We’re talking well over 100k difference in TC, and a significant difference in cash, and that’s not even accounting for liquidity.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#126

Post by swe_guy »

LandR wrote: post #79
elric wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Same here in the UK. I know a couple of guys in the UK who are essentially just coding all day, in full time jobs, making £100k a year. BUt it's very rare IMO, I'm not even on 50% of that.

It depends on the industry.

I'm graduating this year, and many of my friends (and myself) are going to work for FANG+ and finance companies and hitting that figure.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#127

Post by vbsteven »

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.

As a Belgian myself: self-employment is the key here. It's not that hard to pull in 100-200K annually in the current belgian tech space, I've done it consistently for the past 5 years, with lots of periods where I did not work full time.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#128

Post by mtlynch »

ianhawes wrote: post #34

>What I walk away with: $3,700,000 in cash >practically speaking, never need to work again Yikes, does someone want to tell him?

A $3.7M windfall is enough for most Americans to never work again.

Assuming he keeps ~$3M after taxes and can earn a conservative return of 4%/yr in investments, that's $120k/yr just from his investments. Many Americans live on far less. Also, he lives in Alabama, where cost of living is quite low.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#129

Post by adamzapasnik »

tiffanyh wrote: post #120

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.

He said it in an another comment; to employees.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#130

Post by [deleted] »

tiffanyh wrote: post #120

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.

[deleted]
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