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I sold Baremetrics

baremetrics.com

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Re: I sold Baremetrics

#331

Post by sequoia »

ponker wrote: post #319
sequoia wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you imagine the VCs had to sell all their clothes and are now walking around wearing barrels held up by leather straps, before they retire for the evening to a cardboard box over a steam vent? You really think they had to cut back their Dom Perignon budget over this loss? Do you think they were "strongarmed" by this investor? There is what is for them a teeny tiny pie, and rather than demanding their small slice b…

If I stole your TV you likely wouldn’t be moving into a cardboard box either. Does that make it ok?

If you borrowed my TV and later I said "you can keep it" that would make it OK, yes.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#332

Post by freewilly1040 »

vidarh wrote: post #276
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 differen…

Money isn't everything. I've turned down interview opportunities at both Facebook and Google because the roles on offer were not roles I was interested in doing. In the past I've broken off Google's interview process because the glacial pace they were moving at just was not worth it to me. I earn well, so granted I'm not turning down as much as some would, but to drag out a tired old saying, I work to live, I don't l…

I think the parent was mostly aimed at "how much time they want to spend interviewing", which is an outlier on that list. It's trivial relative to the others.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#334

Post by secondcoming »

swe_guy wrote: post #126
LandR wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In London?

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#335

Post by yibg »

skrebbel wrote: post #97

At the time I write this comment, half my screen is full of people calling Josh not so nice things. Folks, this is a founder who's openly sharing the kinds of things we usually keep hidden. I doubt there's been a startup exit in the last decade where a healthy skeptical HN'er couldn't find some wrongs being done, if the details had been available. It's extremely hard to get everything right, from every perspective. T…

They're also mostly from a very SV bubble point of view. A lot of posts point to the employees not getting very much from the sale. But there are lots of places in the world where employees of small businesses are not granted large equity stake, and work for a salary like most employees everywhere else. This is especially true for a steady profit driven company that's not aiming for hypergrowth (another very SV centric view of startups).

We don't know how much the employees are paid, for all we know they could be paid the prevailing wage for their location.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#336

Post by fred_is_fred »

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…

"where they are willing to live" is key. 400-500k a year still isn't enough for me to want to raise a family in SF.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#337

Post by t0astbread »

caffeine wrote: post #210
t0astbread wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate how charity is not a moral good?

In this case, charity would distort incentives by softening the outcome of bad decision-making. Each of those employees signed up for a salary and equity. That equity turned out to be of very little value to them in the end, probably less than they were hoping for. If they all got paid out anyway, they would not have learned that small equity stakes can turn out meaningless, and that exits are way less profitable for…

This comment should be seen as unrelated to the Baremetrics case (because I don't know the employees' POV).

I think I understand your reasoning but I don't agree with it. It implies that workers don't already know they're in a much worse position compared to founders/business owners when it comes to acquisitions. Generally it suggests that workers "learn" through pain until they become founders. Which might apply to some people but certainly isn't the case for everyone, let alone a good reason to treat your workers badly. I much more agree with the sibling comment by Jochim.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#338

Post by M2Ys4U »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #292
LandR wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$85k a year is surely enough to live off without working? I'm in the UK, if I could earn a guaranteed £40k a year without working I'd be set for life and would have a pretty great life! That's would give me close to twice the national average salary. £80k a year would put you into the tiny percent of top earners.

Don’t forget in America he needs to spend $12k a year on health care. And that’s like a minimum, last time I checked Obamacare, those kind of plans had $8-10k max out of pocket too.

So even with health insurance deducted, that still works out, with current exchange rates, at £63k, which is quite a high income - 95th percentile in the UK income distribution after tax.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#339

Post by rhizome »

sologoub wrote: post #304
realbarack wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't weigh in on your "is it better" question, but if you make 450k a year in the Bay Area you definitely do not need to commute hours each way and you can probably afford to buy a home if you want.

That REALLY depends on the details of the hypothetical persons situation. EDIT: looks like copy/paste deleted some of the post, adding back: $450k is likely $200k base, $40k bonus and $210k RSU (source levels.FYI). Most lenders won’t touch RSUs unless you had 2+ years at the same income level and even then they don’t like it. So taking 45% DTI (debt to income) ratio of base + bonus nets $9000 payment (principle + int…

FWIW, if you scroll down you'll see the median price in that neighborhood is $1.5MM, which'll bring it down to about a $6K house payment. Easily doable at your salary estimates unless the buyer has a crippling candle addiction, and there's lots of wiggle room for location between $1.5-2MM if the buyer wants schools or anything more than proximity to work.

Re: I sold Baremetrics

#340

Post by mrisoli »

I interviewed for Baremetrics a while ago and a major reason for this was because I am a fan of Josh and its openness culture. Ended up not following through the process as I got a job offer in the mean time.

I enjoyed even my first impressions at the interview process and I'm happy Josh got a nice payout, congrats!

I do hope Baremetrics transparency continues in some fomr as its a big inspiration.

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