5 ms·

Thanks for being so open. I like hearing real world experiences. My take away here is that unless you are founder, or the company goes for billions, you don't r

by vinhboy 10y ago

Thanks for being so open. I like hearing real world experiences. My take away here is that unless you are founder, or the company goes for billions, you don't really make much.

lpolovets 10y ago
I think that's probably true. One exception might be very early employees who get 0.5%-3.0% equity in a company that sells for $100m or $200m. You can probably walk away with $1m or $2m for a couple of years of works. With a multi-billion-dollar exit, you might end up with $10m or $20m someday, but it'll be many years into the future -- and there will be many tempting opportunities to sell stock early along the way.
- lisper 10y ago
  > many tempting opportunities to sell stock early along the way This. It's really easy to make money in hindsight. If you'd bought GOOG at the IPO in 2004 and held it until 2007 you would have had a 6.6x return. If you'd held it until today you would have had a 13x return, but a much lower IRR. On the other hand, if you'd bought Zynga at the IPO you'd be down 66% five years later and still waiting for it to bounce back. It's a lot easier to make hypothetical money in the past than it is to make real money in the future.
  - home_boi 10y ago
    I have always lived by the rule "would you invest your money in the company?" when deciding whether to sell RSUs. I'm not sure if it would be any different with larger equity %s. On one hand, the only reason to work for a start up is to take the risk and go all or nothing. On the other hand, I would never invest in a start up. I probably would sell off a huge portion (~70%) of equity before the start up reaches $500 million given the chance
limeyx 10y ago
Early employees in a startup I was at that went public in 2001 were making $3-6Million We went out for $1B though (on raising < $2M of VC money) Sadly I was not in that group of people

by vinhboy 10y ago

Thanks for being so open. I like hearing real world experiences. My take away here is that unless you are founder, or the company goes for billions, you don't really make much.

lpolovets 10y ago

I think that's probably true. One exception might be very early employees who get 0.5%-3.0% equity in a company that sells for $100m or $200m. You can probably walk away with $1m or $2m for a couple of years of works. With a multi-billion-dollar exit, you might end up with $10m or $20m someday, but it'll be many years into the future -- and there will be many tempting opportunities to sell stock early along the way.

lisper 10y ago
> many tempting opportunities to sell stock early along the way This. It's really easy to make money in hindsight. If you'd bought GOOG at the IPO in 2004 and held it until 2007 you would have had a 6.6x return. If you'd held it until today you would have had a 13x return, but a much lower IRR. On the other hand, if you'd bought Zynga at the IPO you'd be down 66% five years later and still waiting for it to bounce back. It's a lot easier to make hypothetical money in the past than it is to make real money in the future.
- home_boi 10y ago
  I have always lived by the rule "would you invest your money in the company?" when deciding whether to sell RSUs. I'm not sure if it would be any different with larger equity %s. On one hand, the only reason to work for a start up is to take the risk and go all or nothing. On the other hand, I would never invest in a start up. I probably would sell off a huge portion (~70%) of equity before the start up reaches $500 million given the chance

limeyx 10y ago

Early employees in a startup I was at that went public in 2001 were making $3-6Million We went out for $1B though (on raising < $2M of VC money) Sadly I was not in that group of people