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If you remove all financial incentives to stay after hitting a one year cliff there is a pretty strong force towards diversification that seems like it would le

by harryh 11y ago

If you remove all financial incentives to stay after hitting a one year cliff there is a pretty strong force towards diversification that seems like it would lead to higher than desirable turnover. You can't just ignore that incentive.

jacobr1 11y ago
If the company is more valuable a year later, with good prospects, then the size of the low price of the original grant (which will now vest monthly via standard terms) provide an incentive for staying. So could an additional performance grant, or salary increase.
solidsnack9000 11y ago
Companies should pool equity with one another to address this.
- solidsnack9000 11y ago
  I guess people hate this idea. But it'll probably only hurt a few founders, who would have been losers anyway; VCs and employees will ultimately be better off.
x0x0 11y ago
The financial incentive to stay is continued vesting of presumably more-valuable options, about which you have inside knowledge -- the state of development, the sales pipeline, high performance from founders, a deeper understanding of the industry, etc. It doesn't take much job hunting to realize as an employee you're taking a bigger risk than the company. There's some crazy people out there and some really terrible bosses. The same way it's really difficult to evaluate an employee in an interview it's just as hard to evaluate a working environment, a boss, whether the ceo is a meddler with the attention span of a hummingbird, etc. A sane boss with a solid development process that doesn't encourage late nights or lead to incredibly fragile software and/or heroic, stressful ops efforts is worth a hell of a lot. You just want to leverage golden handcuffs to retain employees... I think honesty all around is the best method. Unfortunately, that further devalues the (already low imo / in my advice) value of options and suggests people are much better off going to established companies.
st3v3r 11y ago
No, there isn't. Someone who job hops every year is going to start having trouble finding work.
- mahyarm 11y ago
  TBH, many resumes have people who change companies every year or two. It's pretty rare to find a resume where someone stays at a company for many years unless they have a very good reason to.

by harryh 11y ago

jacobr1 11y ago

If the company is more valuable a year later, with good prospects, then the size of the low price of the original grant (which will now vest monthly via standard terms) provide an incentive for staying. So could an additional performance grant, or salary increase.

solidsnack9000 11y ago

Companies should pool equity with one another to address this.

solidsnack9000 11y ago
I guess people hate this idea. But it'll probably only hurt a few founders, who would have been losers anyway; VCs and employees will ultimately be better off.

x0x0 11y ago

The financial incentive to stay is continued vesting of presumably more-valuable options, about which you have inside knowledge -- the state of development, the sales pipeline, high performance from founders, a deeper understanding of the industry, etc. It doesn't take much job hunting to realize as an employee you're taking a bigger risk than the company. There's some crazy people out there and some really terrible bosses. The same way it's really difficult to evaluate an employee in an interview it's just as hard to evaluate a working environment, a boss, whether the ceo is a meddler with the attention span of a hummingbird, etc. A sane boss with a solid development process that doesn't encourage late nights or lead to incredibly fragile software and/or heroic, stressful ops efforts is worth a hell of a lot. You just want to leverage golden handcuffs to retain employees... I think honesty all around is the best method. Unfortunately, that further devalues the (already low imo / in my advice) value of options and suggests people are much better off going to established companies.

st3v3r 11y ago

No, there isn't. Someone who job hops every year is going to start having trouble finding work.

mahyarm 11y ago
TBH, many resumes have people who change companies every year or two. It's pretty rare to find a resume where someone stays at a company for many years unless they have a very good reason to.