Silicon Valley's best kept secret: Founder liquidity

Post by Spoom » Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 3:12 PM UTC

grvdrm wrote: post #320

throrway12 wrote: post #129

I worked at a preseed company recently. Here's my experience: - Work 9 to 7 everyday. 6 days a week. - People are working 9 am - 5 am in crunch time. Then joining again at 10 am. - Monetary Comp is exactly market average. - Equity Comp is even more paltry since founders raised at a huge valuation. - Founders make unrealistic promises. Eg: It took a competitor with 7 people, 3 months to make a product. The founder tol…

Honest question: do people with young kids do these jobs well, or at all? I'm sure the answer is sometimes, yes. But, as a 41-yr-old father of two kids (6, 2) and a wife in PE, the pace and stress strike me as contradictory to being present in a marriage, being present with my kids, managing my health, etc. I'd love to hear how the people with families manage (or fail) this pace?

Post by moneywoes » Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 3:13 PM UTC

throwailearner wrote: post #297

Posting from throwaway so I can be very open. I joined a YC startup as engineer #1 with close to $200k salary and 2% options vesting at the usual 4 years, with a 10 year window. I feel like this was bettern than usual, and for a while felt like I struck an awesome deal, but as time went on I realised I was building everything single-handedly, while getting (at best) 2%, which started to annoy me deep down. Over two y…

Post by tomrod » Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 3:13 PM UTC

moneywoes wrote: post #435

htrp wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that is underappreciated in the startup mythos is just closing up shop and trying again.

do investors allow that

Post by throaway893 » Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 3:14 PM UTC

icedchai wrote: post #392

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially 5 years down the road when you own ~30% of a $100M company - but you know there's a decent chance you'll walk away with very little, if not nothing - while your peers are all making ~$1M per year working 6 hour days at FAANG with a life partner, maybe kids, and a sizable net worth that isn't going away. Sure, you've got a decent chance to rocket past them in wealth. But they've got everything they really w…

Or, based on examples I've witnessed, 5 years down the road you own 20% of a $1M company because your forecasts were off by an order of magnitude. You've gone through a couple down rounds, where investors took at least 20% each time. You feel obligated to your investors and employees, while there is almost zero chance of walking away with anything.

Post by dclowd9901 » Wed, Jun 12, 2024, 3:14 PM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #348

Finbarr wrote: post #66

Secondary at Series A is very rare. Part of the reason more early employees don't get included in secondary sales is because of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 14e-2. If you have more than 10 sellers involved, the transaction can be considered a tender offer, which triggers additional regulatory requirements and disclosures. > As of 4 months ago I left a very successful stealth startup (which grew to 40M in ARR i…

Especially 5 years down the road when you own ~30% of a $100M company - but you know there's a decent chance you'll walk away with very little, if not nothing - while your peers are all making ~$1M per year working 6 hour days at FAANG with a life partner, maybe kids, and a sizable net worth that isn't going away. Sure, you've got a decent chance to rocket past them in wealth. But they've got everything they really w…