Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 553 posts

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

#51

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

nocoiner wrote: post #26
mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still pretty shocking to have to forfeit shares that have vested.

It’s like, what does vesting even mean? Was this a scenario where he lost them because some sort of “cause” event occurred, like leaving to work for a competitor? I can’t imagine that would even be valid under CA law? I’m not even sure who was forcing him to forfeit his shares…

Vest has two meanings: If it's a stock option, then it means you have the ability to purchase a share at a pre-determined price, no matter the current public price of the stock (or even if there is no public price). If it's a Restricted Stock Unit, it means you own that share.

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

#52

Post by khuey »

marssaxman wrote: post #20
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…

Was there ever a time when you could reasonably expect to make more money by joining a startup? That has never been the case so far as I am aware, and I'm currently on my seventh tour through startup-land...

More? Not really. But before Zuckerberg and the DOJ blew up the illegal wage fixing the big valley companies engaged in the gap was smaller.

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

#54

Post by lokar »

SirMaster wrote: post #53

Why do people care so much about what some random guy did in a company acquisition?

A lot of this industry is focused on early stage startups as a path to financial success. The rules and laws around this don’t tend to protect even early employees much at all. People depend on social norms for what to expect. Shifts in the norms are of interest.

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

#55

Post by lokar »

nocoiner wrote: post #35
shawabawa3 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google did a weird thing where they poached windsurf employees, licensed their tech and hired the CEO and upper management, leaving a shelled out company behind Looks like employees were given an exploding offer to join Google and sacrifice windsurf shares at a low valuation, or stick with windsurf If you stuck with windsurf you then joined cognition in a later acquisition

Wow. How did the Windsurf investors feel about that?

They got paid out as well. Meta pulled the same thing recently.

So, a new trend where big tech “buys out” a startup in a way that only early VCs, founders and top managers get any value.

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

#56

Post by lemax »

This is a fair cautionary tale but it's worth understanding the specifics of the situation – Windsurf maintained a relatively easy to replicate product with no moat, and employed a bunch of attractive talent. The company got gutted of these employees and lost its valuation because no suitable buyer thought their IP was exceptionally valuable on its own. Just because this was the outcome for Windsurf does not mean there are no longer opportunities to join startups building sticky customer bases with valuable IP and walk away wealthier when they exit – yes there is a liquidity problem[1] but let'a be honest with ourselves about the specifics of the case for Windsurf.

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/11/us-startups-have-a-liquidi...

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

#57

Post by eweise »

marssaxman wrote: post #20
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…

Was there ever a time when you could reasonably expect to make more money by joining a startup? That has never been the case so far as I am aware, and I'm currently on my seventh tour through startup-land...

Maybe way back in the .com days but its a terrible decision financially now.

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

#58

Post by dboreham »

cyanydeez wrote: post #37
crazygringo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you, that helps! But so did he keep the shares or take the payout? Is the 1% payout an accurate reflection of Windsurf's value after having lost so many valuable employees? And why didn't he take the Google job? Was the 1% contingent on taking the Google job? But how could it be, since Google doesn't own Windsurf/Cognition? But if it did somehow, did it have a higher paycheck to compensate? Or was it contingent…

the board strokes is: Google should have bought the company. They didnt. They basically bought the employees. They call it a "acquihire". Without these employees, the real value of the company fell, allowing cognition to buy the company. Had the employee taken employement with Google, it's likely their shares in windsurf would have been voided, or otherwise not vested. Who knows, these private corporations are often…

> They call it a "acquihire"

Surely it needs to be called something else, because acquihire means "hire some employees by means of acquiring the company they currently work for" (it's in the name). Since Google did not acquire the company, it can't be an acquihire event. "bribehire" or something?

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

#59

Post by SirMaster »

hackermeows wrote: post #16

why would anyone work in startups as early devs anymore. Tell me what is the upside? There seems to be only downsides. Startup Fails , you loose - Gets acquired - you loose What is the motivation to perform .

Because you like the work you are doing and the projects you are working on?

Presumably you have a lot more control and freedom to do things how you want than at a large company with a lot of red tape etc.

That's the main reason I would do it.

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

#60

Post by KaiserPro »

I was aquihired by a FAANG.

The headline "startup bought for x million" is almost always a lie, either direct or by omission.

First, when a startup is bought, its generally not bought at the headline rate. So if you see a "bought for $45m" that doesn't mean People who own shares all got a % of 45m.

That number is normally bullshit, but also a "total package" which include share offers for joining the new company.

This means you will get say 1% of the headline buyout now, and then golden handcuffs to get the rest.

Also, it makes no sense to give employees that much money upfront. After all, if I'd been given $1m in one go, I wouldn't be fucking working now.

Post reply on HN