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

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

#271

Post by _jab »

itake wrote: post #266
_jab wrote: post #260

The details here remain unclear to me, and even this tweet is somewhat vague. > I was given an offer that would explode same day. I had to forfeit all of my vested shares earned over my 3.5+ years at Windsurf. I was ultimately given a payout of only 1% of what my shares would have been worth at the time of the deal. Was forfeiting the vested shares conditional on accepting the offer, or did he have no choice over the…

what are those shares worth with the company gutted? Seems like not much of a choice if leadership and IP are gone...

The company should have been worth at least the cash it had on hand, which has been reported as ~$100M. It's also been reported that all vested equity and VC shares were bought out (although apparently perhaps with a few exceptions for people who declined the offer), which meant that the employee unvested equity stakes were "undiluted" from whatever they were before (hard to judge, but maybe 5-10%), to 100%. So every employee had their stake in the company increase 10x-20x. So if the company had then decided to simply close up and distribute the remaining cash as dividends to the employees, it would be as if each employee had simply been bought out pre-deal at a $1-2B valuation. And that was the absolute worst case scenario - clearly Windsurf found a better deal with Cognition.

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

#272

Post by albedoa »

azinman2 wrote: post #187
para_parolu wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$25k/yr can be decent living in some places.

In no place where you’re getting a 1M pretax offer.

Yeah man, I'm sure that's exactly what they meant when talking about a decent living for $25k/year.

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

#273

Post by nimos »

kstrauser wrote: post #254
0x00000000 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

anything within 45 minutes of your office in palo alto (where you are mandated to show up 5 days a week). this will get you a 1300sqft piece of shit built in 1964 with asbestos and lead paint and lead pipes and a cracked foundation (also some dipshit realtor had them paint all the original wood beams and paneling inside gloss white and replace the original wood and slate floors with grey vinyl) from some baby boomer…

Or you could spend half that in the heart of SF and have a nice place in a decent neighborhood: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1265-Union-St-San-Francis... It's not that it's cheap here, not by any measure, but it's not nearly so dire as y'all want to claim.

That is a tenancy in common 2 bedroom apartment not a house. Shared ownership of a 100+ year old building with "leased" parking 2 blocks away. Not exactly the home ownership dream.

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

#274

Post by kstrauser »

hollerith wrote: post #265
kstrauser wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are greatly exaggerating. One tangible advantage to living somewhere expensive with higher salaries is that anything you can buy online is effectively that much cheaper. An iPhone costs the same in Arkansas as in San Jose, so you'd end up working many more hours to buy one in AR than in CA, on average. Yes, housing is more expensive. A lot more. Everything else is way cheaper.

Services are also more expensive because the person performing the service must pay the high rents, too.

Not proportionally more, in my experience, and surely not for people moving here for the kinds of jobs we’re talking about.

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

#275

Post by bravoetch »

Since others are sharing their doom and gloom stories - Mine is the opposite. I was hired at a startup, and I didn't even know what a startup was. I just liked the industry they were in and applied to join.

In negotiations I tried to get more salary, by taking less equity. It kinda worked, but later they doubled my equity to match other hires of the same era (but with a new vesting schedule for the new options). Then at some point I was fired without reason. The company went on to become worth a lot, and I was able to get out with enough to never work again and live pretty luxuriously. AFAIK others that were in my era at this startup did equally well, or many times better. It can happen, but I didn't ever think it was even possible because I didn't understand what 'options' even were when I was hired.

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

#276

Post by ojbyrne »

dehrmann wrote: post #197
fusslo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my equity from 2years pre-acquisition: ~$2800. Then the CEO gave out bonuses when everyone threatened to quit. Then after his 3 month vacation to Italy, he came back driving his new Ferrari. My equity from 4 years ( employee ~60, grew to over 500 ): worthless. No one is able to exercise any options. They also readjusted when the valuation came below the total raised, making the value of my vested shares ~$13k ( down…

At some point, aren't the C Suite and directors failing their fiduciary responsibility? I know they have broad freedoms, but when you're reducing an a minority shareholder's equity by 95%, it's well past "fiduciary responsibility" and looking like fraud.

Of course. So if you’re the employee, you’re going to sue? If so you’re paying for your lawyer, and the company is paying for theirs. Guess who goes broke first.

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

#277

Post by stouset »

nimos wrote: post #273
kstrauser wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could spend half that in the heart of SF and have a nice place in a decent neighborhood: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1265-Union-St-San-Francis... It's not that it's cheap here, not by any measure, but it's not nearly so dire as y'all want to claim.

That is a tenancy in common 2 bedroom apartment not a house. Shared ownership of a 100+ year old building with "leased" parking 2 blocks away. Not exactly the home ownership dream.

I own one unit in a 2-unit condo built in the 1910s in SF. It’s pretty fucking dreamy if you ask me.

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

#278

Post by kstrauser »

nimos wrote: post #273
kstrauser wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could spend half that in the heart of SF and have a nice place in a decent neighborhood: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1265-Union-St-San-Francis... It's not that it's cheap here, not by any measure, but it's not nearly so dire as y'all want to claim.

That is a tenancy in common 2 bedroom apartment not a house. Shared ownership of a 100+ year old building with "leased" parking 2 blocks away. Not exactly the home ownership dream.

Then click around to find something more your liking. There are a lot of places for sale for under $3M that aren’t exactly a tent under a bridge.

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

#279

Post by gammarator »

labster wrote: post #256
0x00000000 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

anything within 45 minutes of your office in palo alto (where you are mandated to show up 5 days a week). this will get you a 1300sqft piece of shit built in 1964 with asbestos and lead paint and lead pipes and a cracked foundation (also some dipshit realtor had them paint all the original wood beams and paneling inside gloss white and replace the original wood and slate floors with grey vinyl) from some baby boomer…

You should have bought in when Prop 13 went into effect, you’d only be paying $3k in property taxes today instead of $40k.

Or inherit the Prop 13 rate from your parents.

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

#280

Post by lotsofpulp »

kstrauser wrote: post #225
supportengineer wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fun part comes when you put in 20 years doing this, and your dream is to buy a nice house, and you finally get your seven-figure payout, and.... it's not enough to buy a house. Because now a house is 3 million dollars.

What kind of house had you been dreaming of? I live in SF, and even here $3M goes an awfully freaking long way.

$3M is this 2,240 sq ft home on a 5k sq ft lot in San Mateo, and as far as house amenities/quality, this is pretty unimpressive.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/221-Woodbridge-Cir-San-Ma...

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