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Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

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Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#51

Post by Salman23 »

spiantino wrote: post #46

I don't think you can treat owners of the same shares differently in the way this is suggesting. The VC shareholders and the employee shareholders are probably on equal footing and getting the same price. VCs will own preferred but I doubt that is enough to windfall them at the expense of the common shareholders. So if VCs are getting paid a certain share price, employees with vested stock almost certainly are gettin…

Yes I think you are right here. The purchase price is high enough for all parties to be get return on their shares, and whilst there will be a waterfall for who gets paid first, I doubt many people will be unhappy with this deal.

Unlike Windsurf... who's 2nd employee only got 1% of what their shares were worth (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44673296)

Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#53

Post by nharada »

999900000999 wrote: post #36
georgeburdell wrote: post #25

This behavior is extremely damaging to the startup scene. Who would join a startup these days unless it’s run by a close friend or relative? At least in that case, the scorned junior employees would have social recourse.

If you need a job for things like food and housing a startup is cool. I fully expect to be lied to repeatedly though about my own pay, our prospects, etc. I had to learn the hard way that these lies are defacto legal because employees won't realistically be able to sue. But hey, the base pay is probably enough.

In that case working at a startup would be a thing someone would only do as a last resort, and the talent pool would consequently be extremely low quality. Sounds damaging to the scene to me.

Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#55

Post by grensley »

A la carte in AI is going to be the name of the game for a couple reasons:

- Avoids regulatory scrutiny (for now at least)

- Nobody is actually entrenched enough for customers to matter

- Weird "celebrity" culture in tech, and AI especially. Everyone is looking for a "whisperer" or a "godfather" or whatever.

- Investors still get paid out

Smart operational talent will probably adapt by demanding higher salary, signing bonuses, severance packages in lieu of equity. Distribution of the true "lottery tickets" will get more uneven.

Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#56

Post by atif089 »

> GroqCloud will wind down over 12-18 months. They'll either get laid off or jump ship to wherever they can land. They built the LPU architecture, contributed to the compiler stack, supported the infrastructure, and got nothing while Chamath made $2B.

This is depressing.

Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#57

Post by 999900000999 »

nharada wrote: post #53
999900000999 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you need a job for things like food and housing a startup is cool. I fully expect to be lied to repeatedly though about my own pay, our prospects, etc. I had to learn the hard way that these lies are defacto legal because employees won't realistically be able to sue. But hey, the base pay is probably enough.

In that case working at a startup would be a thing someone would only do as a last resort, and the talent pool would consequently be extremely low quality. Sounds damaging to the scene to me.

Have you seen the tech market?

A lot of good engineers are out of work. They'll gladly take what they can

Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#58

Post by toomuchtodo »

georgeburdell wrote: post #25

This behavior is extremely damaging to the startup scene. Who would join a startup these days unless it’s run by a close friend or relative? At least in that case, the scorned junior employees would have social recourse.

If you join a startup, and have equity that isn’t special in some way (defending against liquidation preference or dilution), you’re the sucker. You’re just going to grind for someone else’s payday when a deal is made in a room you’re not in. You’ll only be made rich if someone with the power to drive the decision thinks you should be. As always, it’s who you know and being likable.

Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#59

Post by CalChris »

What is keeping Google/Amazon/Microsoft from licensing Groq’s tech? Sans people to be sure but at substantially reduced price. The Groq Cloud people should owe no allegiance to Ross.

BTW, the FA says Nvidia bought the patents. That’s probably an overstatement. Grow said non-exclusive licensing and Nvidia hasn’t said anything.

I think Nvidia licensed the IP and ‘bought’ (handcuffed) the people.

Re: Nvidia's $20B antitrust loophole

#60

Post by tyre »

jmward01 wrote: post #47
georgeburdell wrote: post #25

This behavior is extremely damaging to the startup scene. Who would join a startup these days unless it’s run by a close friend or relative? At least in that case, the scorned junior employees would have social recourse.

It is definitely time to stop looking at equity as part of pay at a startup. The trend is extremely clear, startups aren't paying out to employees but the C suite gets internal raises and IPO is pushed to infinity. It is nice to have some paper laying around but that is all it is, paper. Go to a startup for a year. Get the experience, move and get a 20-50% pay increase and keep doing that every year and you will be w…

This is always the case. Negotiate equity, but assume it’s worth zero. It’s not liquid and highly speculative. It’s a nice to have.

edit: which doesn’t mean join companies you don’t believe in! Please do. But don’t expect it to be there, don’t include it in life plans, don’t pay attention to valuations, etc.

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