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Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

oxide.computer

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Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#131

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

ivraatiems wrote: post #84
addisonl wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For 99.9% of the population, being paid the same as the CEO is a moral booster.

That's because 99.9% of the population work for a CEO making millions of dollars a year, not $191k at a startup.

Jeez, how much freaking money are programmers paid in SV that they'd be unhappy earning $191k?

I live in probably the most expensive country on Earth, Norway, and at that wage I could work for 10-15 years, and with some smart, fairly conservative investing, assuming good times in the markets I could easily get retired at 40-45 if I wanted to.

Granted I live and generally prefer a very frugal lifestyle even when I am making good money, but still by my back of the mental napkin estimation I could even have 2 kids, a spouse, house and car and still have a ton of disposable income left over to save/invest.

Is there something I'm missing? Is rent in the valley $80k a year or some bizarro world number?

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#132

Post by eddsh1994 »

ivraatiems wrote: post #84
addisonl wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For 99.9% of the population, being paid the same as the CEO is a moral booster.

That's because 99.9% of the population work for a CEO making millions of dollars a year, not $191k at a startup.

I’m in the Bay Area and make slightly less than $191k. Me and my wife are very happy financially :) This is a good idea and if you want money then you have to make the company more profitable which is awesome!

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#133

Post by bcrosby95 »

seattle_spring wrote: post #110
jchonphoenix wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how they make this work in sf unless they own a home or bought a long while back.

It’s so, so fascinating how distorted some folks’ views on money are on HN. There’s also a guy who pops in threads like this and insists that $250k in the Bay Area is “basically poverty.” It only becomes difficult to live on if you insist on private schooling, full-time daycare, BMW-level cars with private parking, etc.

I don't think 250k in the bay area is poverty. But anything under 200k, if you have kids - while not being a struggle - is definitely in "1 vacation per year, never eat out, and watch your budget like a hawk" territory.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#134

Post by 8note »

epolanski wrote: post #75
ivraatiems wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Everyone gets the same amount of equity as the CEO" would be a morale booster. "Everyone gets paid the same as the CEO" is at best a nice-to-have.

I think the letter addresses this perfectly: equity depends on risk you take, the earlier you joined the more you get seems very reasonable.

Does it?

This is inherently unequal as explored by Dan Olsen in The Line Goes Up

If you weren't born yet, you lack access to that equity

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#135

Post by eddsh1994 »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #131
ivraatiems wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because 99.9% of the population work for a CEO making millions of dollars a year, not $191k at a startup.

Jeez, how much freaking money are programmers paid in SV that they'd be unhappy earning $191k? I live in probably the most expensive country on Earth, Norway, and at that wage I could work for 10-15 years, and with some smart, fairly conservative investing, assuming good times in the markets I could easily get retired at 40-45 if I wanted to. Granted I live and generally prefer a very frugal lifestyle even when I am…

I pay $3k per month for a 1 bed flat which comes out as 20% of my household income - I don’t feel poor out here with a postdoc wife and my own salary that’s not FANG. Life in a nice part of Palo Alto. The HN bubble is a bubble, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#137

Post by sidlls »

hdisllcn wrote: post #126
sidlls wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're an extreme outlier, then. Most Bay Area software salaries are going to cap out around $190k - $230k range, except at FAANG or FAANG-like companies.

I don’t think this is accurate (and it is not in my experience) levels.fyi puts the median salary for _juniors_ at 180k and the 90th percentile at 230k. The data is obviously imperfect but on average it’s fairly accurate. My personal experience also aligns with this. Senior is around 300-500k and Staff/Manager can get extremely silly.

levels.fyi is weighted heavily towards FAANG and FAANG-like companies.

My personal experience is both at FAANG-like and "other". The difference in compensation is quite large, and likely bimodal.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#138

Post by bcantrill »

jedberg wrote: post #127
bcantrill wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you would think that such folks would see the value in the model? I mean, I get that trust is at a very low point but wouldn't folks see the value in a model that focuses on (among other things) fostering mutual trust? There is clearly a lot of anger out there, and I don't know if that's part of a broader trend or not.

I think people are just going straight for "what's the catch", "how does this create greater benefits for the founders?". I even replied to someone who said "I was waiting for the other shoe to drop" and the complained about the 100% insurance coverage being unfair. People are super bitter at execs right now, and the vitriol here is not justified. FWIW I really like it, although I would love to know more about how eq…

Equity has been purely formulaic based on arrival at the company. And speaking personally (though I don't think that I'm an outlier at Oxide in this regard), this is the best team I've ever had the pleasure of working with -- extraordinary in its breadth and depth.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#139

Post by bcantrill »

tomandrews88 wrote: post #114

I’m basically reading this as “If you’re exceptionally good at what you do, don’t work here”

I should let this comment go answered, but I simply can't: this team is packed with folks who are exceptionally good at what they do -- it's an extraordinarily inspiring team to be a part of.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#140

Post by pclmulqdq »

jchonphoenix wrote: post #9
slap_shot wrote: post #6

> the three of us live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Steve and I each have three kids; we knew that the dollar figure that would allow us to live without financial distress – which we put at $175,000 a year Putting aside the fact that is terrible way to determine the rate of pay for anyone, let alone every single person in a company - how on earth did they come up with such a lower number for such a high cost of…

I'm curious how they make this work in sf unless they own a home or bought a long while back.

They're all doing fine. I would assume all three of them have an 8-figure net worth given how long they have been in the industry.
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