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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

#371

Post by AceJohnny2 »

Thorrez wrote: post #344
chasebank wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in Santa Barbara, CA. Good friend of mine just bought a shithole 3-2 1300sqft for $2.2m. $3M doesn't go very far considering 30 years ago it was retirement status almost anywhere.

Here's a $2M 4-3 2279sqft very-nice-looking home in Santa Barbara: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5436-Agana-Dr-Santa-Barba...

offtopic, but I love comparing realtor glamour shots HDR'd out the wazoo with StreetView

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2aEXsdH9hU3o4SZw5 (winter, March 2012)

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

#372

Post by bloodyplonker22 »

michaelt wrote: post #172
highfrequency wrote: post #124

Directly contradicts Garry Tan's post saying that all forty founding engineers got seven figure payouts from the Google acquisition: https://x.com/garrytan/status/1947072583092052406 Even if the OP considers the full headline number of $2.4b to be the value of the company, and taking his "1% of fair" number as truth, seven figure payouts would imply all 40 founding engineers had >4% equity which is nonsensical.

> 40 founding engineers Forty founding engineers? Seriously? They must have a very expansive definition of founder.

"Founder" and "founding engineer" are two entirely different things. One of those phrases is a glorified substitute for "early engineer". Kind of like when you buy a "founders edition" Nvidia GPU. You are certainly not a founder of anything.

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

#374

Post by antonymoose »

sgerenser wrote: post #249
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…

And here I thought I had it bad when houses went from 400k to 800k for the same house pre- vs post-pandemic in Raleigh, NC.

I remember being a young junior engineer, my manager had just bought a nice house in the good part of town (Charleston, SC) for about 350k. We had a good “be smart with your money and this could be you too in 5 years” conversation. I think by the time I was ready to buy that house had jumped to 600k valuation, these days it’s close to $1M in valuation.

Only way to get a nice house for 300k now is to work remote in some podunk town for a big city salary.

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

#375

Post by thedevilslawyer »

achierius wrote: post #198
doctorpangloss wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's complicated. The difference between a founder and founding engineer - I think you mean early employee - is pretty big. The fact that they are getting a "raw deal" in your POV should inform you that the equity grants are not related to risk. This is coming from someone who programs for a living: contrary to what you are saying, the money guys take too little equity. The money guy being, the reason you are raising…

No. The engineers build the product. They do the actual work. Let's flip your 'reason' around: the engineers are the reason the VCs have a job at all, since the entire point of the job is to find people building big things and funding them to get a cut. They are secondary, the actual product -- and the people who build it -- are what matters, morally and economically.

An engineer in a non-startup also builds the project and does the actual work. It's not special. Trading money and opportunity cost for sweat is what makes it equity.

Also, engineers are not the reason VCs have a job.

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

#376

Post by ljf »

igor47 wrote: post #326
HNdev1995 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents live in the UK which has free healthcare. The situation is dire. The waitlist for chronic pain surgeries are 3-4 years long. Lots of people, including my parents, have resorted to flying out to other cheaper countries to get treatment.

Is chronic pain an outlier here, or representative of wider trends? My uninformed prior is that surgery is not a good approach for chronic pain, and that the NHS is more likely to cover surgeries with a more clear-cut cost/benefit ratio

For things like hip replacements, cancer treatment and other physical ailments the NHS is pretty awesome. Some stuff it fails at I am sure, but as you say that is in part down to the way that it prioritises care based on results.

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

#377

Post by yard2010 »

jongjong wrote: post #213
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…

I worked for an ed-tech startup as employee number 4, joined when it was obscure; not even in the Alexa top 4 million rankings and almost no revenue. The founder was really good though and gave everyone shares instead of options. I got a bit under 0.2% equity in the company. The company grew (slowly and steadily) to $6.5 million USD revenue with about 10% net profit margins but its last valuation (over 10 years later…

This is one of the best things I have read today. It resonates deeply with my realizations and experience working in early stage startups.

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

#378

Post by thedevilslawyer »

TrackerFF wrote: post #7

Financially speaking, is it even worth joining a startup anymore? Compared to just going to any of the big companies. The latter will likely pay you more, with less risk involved. Seems like the best shot is to strive toward becoming financially independent, and then just go for the startup route and follow your passion. If you it doesn't work out, no big deal - if things turn out great, you'll just be even better of…

> Compared to just going to any of the big companies

You're assuming someone joins a startup when they could join a big company. It's an exceptional occurrence.

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

#379

Post by eastbound »

jamil7 wrote: post #327
HNdev1995 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents live in the UK which has free healthcare. The situation is dire. The waitlist for chronic pain surgeries are 3-4 years long. Lots of people, including my parents, have resorted to flying out to other cheaper countries to get treatment.

Because politicians have made it their mission to chip away at the NHS over decades. This doesn’t say anything about the efficacy of statutory healthcare.

It does. In every public-healthcare country, this happens. Because incentives are stacked against delivering to the patient and for increasing spendings. It’s the tragedy of the commons.

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

#380

Post by pjerem »

akshitgaur2005 wrote: post #348
K0balt wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I moved in a developing nation with a GDP smaller than most US states. I have access to excellent modern healthcare and facilities, get more than 5 minutes in front of my doctor, often 1/2 hour+, and my (nearly 60 years old) health insurance is less than 75 usd a month. Covers 90 percent plus, including mental health, limited dental, and optical. The healthcare sector is private / public hybrid, profitable, and…

May I ask which nation?

That’s the description of most European countries.
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