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90 Days and My Six-Figure Mistake
- benmathes 10y agoAuthor here. Yes, that was my stupidity at 24 that cost me over $100k. Woohoo! Ask away. This is early, feedback welcome. Loads of edge cases to explore and catch. For the most part, saves the 30-minutes “this is how equity works” conversation, and tries to prevents mistakes on both sides.
- buzzdenver 10y agoHow come you were considered an insider ? In my experience that's C*O level.
- benmathes 10y agoIIRC (8+ years ago), athenahealth was very open with internal data, as part of building an internal culture of honesty and trust. The Exec team walked the walk and showed us very detailed financial info during all-hands.
- brutus1213 10y agoHeh .. I'm 37, in tech and still struggling to make the downpayment. I wonder how many well-payed tech folks in their 30s are in a similar position where we are completely screwed for housing?
- benmathes 10y agoJust have to put away 5k/month to afford a barebones downpayment... in 5 years.
- buzzdenver 10y agoOut of curiosity, is that something that you could opt out of ? Not knowing too much about how to read a financial report, I might have preferred that to avoid the blackout.
- minimaxir 10y agoNote: article is pretext for a product ad.
- benmathes 10y agoThat experience was the instigator. It's why I wanted to make the product.
- qwrusz 10y agoImportant issue. Glad it's being talked about and worked on. A bit of a tangent, but I see the author in the comments and that he is at a VC now. Im not a founder or VC, but do have a Q: to what extent do you see common term sheet practices and current gov regulations causing issues for founders? Clearly employee equity letters could be more fair, and I realize founders have opportunities to exit that later employees don't get. But to what extent are founders being educated on the risk/reward involved in starting a startup, taking VC funds and their term sheet implications? and are some founders pushing back or deciding not to take the risk of starting a startup at all?
- marssaxman 10y ago> Once an employee learns how equity really works, they often leave startups. Want to make money? Go work at Google. Want to be happy? Stop worrying about making money, accept you never really will, and go work for a startup with people you like who are trying to accomplish something interesting.