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I work for a top-5 YC investment (by current valuation) and none of the things Sam discusses are true of our company: -Employee equity is much lower than his r

I work for a top-5 YC investment (by current valuation) and none of the things Sam discusses are true of our company: -Employee equity is much lower than his recommendations. -We have 90 days to exercise options. -They refused to tell me what percentage my equity represented when I applied. -They refused to tell me information about burn rate/money in the bank when I applied. I still took the job, because money was not a primary motivating factor, but it is disappointing to see one of the most successful YC investments fit none of his criteria. He goes so far as to warn readers to "be very suspect of any startup" that doesn't provide this information. I understand that Sam does not personally control what decisions YC portfolio companies make on these topics, but I certainly hope that he guides them strongly towards the recommendations he has made here.

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meric 11y ago
> They refused to tell me what percentage my equity represented when I applied. Did they tell you how much the equity was worth? You could take the latest round they raised and divide by that.
edanm 11y ago
If it's a top-5 YC company, I assume it's relatively older. This post is probably based on thinking and lessons learned over the last few years - why would he have needed to write it if older YC companies didn't have the bad structures?
- knughit 11y ago
  It is crazy that this stuff that was well down and discussed on HN itself over the years was somehow unknown to YC. When I was a startup employee noob five years ago I learned all the advice of this article, from reading HN.
choppaface 11y ago
+1 can vouch I have had similar problems with YC companies, though not as bad as mentioned here. I think it's important to remember YC companies are totally free to ignore the advice of YC, especially if they believe (perhaps mistakenly) that they'll succeed doing so. That said, I've had still had very positive experiences with other YC companies.

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meric 11y ago

> They refused to tell me what percentage my equity represented when I applied. Did they tell you how much the equity was worth? You could take the latest round they raised and divide by that.

edanm 11y ago

If it's a top-5 YC company, I assume it's relatively older. This post is probably based on thinking and lessons learned over the last few years - why would he have needed to write it if older YC companies didn't have the bad structures?

knughit 11y ago
It is crazy that this stuff that was well down and discussed on HN itself over the years was somehow unknown to YC. When I was a startup employee noob five years ago I learned all the advice of this article, from reading HN.

choppaface 11y ago

+1 can vouch I have had similar problems with YC companies, though not as bad as mentioned here. I think it's important to remember YC companies are totally free to ignore the advice of YC, especially if they believe (perhaps mistakenly) that they'll succeed doing so. That said, I've had still had very positive experiences with other YC companies.