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Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

oxide.computer

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Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#91

Post by paxys »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #17

> The truth is that companies pay people less in other geographies for a simple reason: because they can. We at Oxide just don’t agree with this; we pay people the same regardless of where they pick up their mail. So, look. I completely agree with this, and it’s an admirable ideal. If I were in a position to make this kind of decision, I’d make the same decision or one that looks a lot like it. But if you’re anticipa…

There are many valid arguments in favor of location-based pay, but the one you are bringing up – that people in poorer regions shouldn't be paid the same as rich ones because then they'd have more spending money than their neighbors and that would be bad – isn't one of them.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#92

Post by zamnos »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #55
AbrahamParangi wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everyone was paid the same as the CEO, at many startups everyone would quit.

Has this ever happened in real life?

There are headlines where the CEO takes $1 in salary, but realistically those are few and far between, and the CEO is usually well compensated in stock options and company jet usage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-dollar_salary

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#93

Post by ivraatiems »

rtpg wrote: post #87
ivraatiems wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Everyone gets the same amount of equity as the CEO" would be a morale booster. "Everyone gets paid the same as the CEO" is at best a nice-to-have.

Everyone’s different but money pays rent in ways equity doesn’t, so especially for more junior people the money is a massive benefit. In practice I think that motivated people are fine with non-wild salaries, but with early stage stuff it’s way too common to see people try to use equity as a replacement for salary. Your employees stressing out over money will cause them to perform less well.

Don't get me wrong - I said this in my own comment on this post - I'm glad they're transparent and that they're paying people a living wage given the risks of a startup. I just think they're overselling what this achieves.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#94

Post by zamnos »

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #66
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has this ever happened in real life?

It is fairly common for CEOs at pre-scale startups to pay themselves just enough to live on .

To be concrete, I've heard numbers like $50k being thrown around.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#95

Post by lowkey_ »

jedberg wrote: post #82
tempestn wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell if this is satire. Are you suggesting that they should pay higher salaries to single people because they likely won't use the healthcare plan as much? Should younger and healthier people also be paid more?

> Are you suggesting that they should pay higher salaries to single people because they likely won't use the healthcare plan as much Netflix does. Or at least did. They set aside money for insurance, and paid out whatever you didn't use as cash. People with spouses could just opt for the cash.

As a founder, I honestly wouldn't have expected this to be legal. AFAIK, startups aren't allowed to co-mingle salary + healthcare benefits like that.

E.g. you're breaking the law if you reimburse someone's healthcare plan directly or allow them to expense a health expense, even if you classify that as additional income for them, as opposed to having a dedicated HSA account.

Do you have a source? I'd be super interested in how it works, and I definitely may be wrong on this (I hope I am).

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#96

Post by don-code »

firstlink wrote: post #48

> Oxide not only offers the best healthcare plans we could find, but we also pay 100% of monthly premiums – a significant benefit for those with dependents. I confess I read TFA just to see when the other shoe would drop, and there it is: compensation varies depending on number of dependents. Yes it's hidden from the paycheck but insurance premiums are absolutely part of compensation. Yet the author openly praises th…

This is a fantastic example of _framing_ - how what's generally interpreted as a positive good can, with the right changes to presentation, be re-framed as a negative. The more classic framing example is a child tax credit (generally seen positively), which doesn't substantially differ from a childlessness tax in other ways than how it's framed.

For more information on that topic and how it's frequently used in arguments like these, I highly recommend _Thinking, Fast and Slow_ by Daniel Kahneman.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#97

Post by elromulous »

Is this being a little disingenuous? Obviously the CEO is going to get more equity than other folks, regardless of when they joined. And we all know equity is the real difference maker in compensation in SV / faang / etc.

Feels a little publicity stunty / PR-ish.

-elromulous the curmudgeon

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#98

Post by dragonwriter »

ivraatiems wrote: post #84
addisonl wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For 99.9% of the population, being paid the same as the CEO is a moral booster.

That's because 99.9% of the population work for a CEO making millions of dollars a year, not $191k at a startup.

95% of the population makes less than $191k, though.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#99

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

ivraatiems wrote: post #84
addisonl wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For 99.9% of the population, being paid the same as the CEO is a moral booster.

That's because 99.9% of the population work for a CEO making millions of dollars a year, not $191k at a startup.

$191k is a HUGE wage for A LOT of people. If you're scoffing at that you need to realize you're living in a bubble. Outside of Silicon Valley that's even a huge wage for a dev.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#100

Post by mmcclure »

paxys wrote: post #60
mmcclure wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some will say that we should be talking about equity, not cash compensation. While it’s true that startup equity is important, it’s also true that startup equity doesn’t pay the orthodontist’s bill or get the basement repainted. We believe that every employee should have equity to give them a stake in the company’s future (and that an outsized return for investors should also be an outsized return for employees), b…

> As for how equity is determined, it really deserves its own in-depth treatment AKA skipping the discussion

Not in the way you're accusing them of.

> I assume they are all giving every employee the same % of equity as the founders? No?

And then in this latest comment, you're again clipping off the part that pretty succinctly addresses your original question.

> ...but in short, equity compensates for risk – and in a startup, risk reduces over time: the first employee takes much more risk than the hundredth

So, connecting this back to your original question, no, they explicitly answer that by saying they do not give every employee the same percentage of equity as the founders or earlier employees.

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