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Looking around the Mill Computing, Inc website, this feels like an (accidental?) sweat equity scam. I realize that is a very loaded charge, but this is NOT how
by kev009 9y ago
Looking around the Mill Computing, Inc website, this feels like an (accidental?) sweat equity scam. I realize that is a very loaded charge, but this is NOT how real companies are run: "In the beginning we were a sweat equity organization; no one received a salary; instead, contributors received units that converted to stock when we incorporated. At incorporation 45 people had worked on the Mill and became shareholders. After incorporation we are still a sweat equity organization; we now use a stock option system for sweat equity, and we still pay no salaries. Reward for work today is comparable to what it was before incorporation."
I was involved in something similar around 10 years ago where we were working on a revolutionary EDA suite for analog and mixed signal circuit design. The owner was quite technically competent but kept upping the ante and theatrics to the point that no customers or suitors took the company seriously, only the desperate employees. They never closed sales nor sold the IP.
I advise extreme caution in dealing with the business side of this.
- posterboy 9y agoI understand the sentiment but the wording is indeed too loaded. A scam would mean the scammer gains a benefit.
- igodard 9y agoCaution is always warranted when you aren't getting cash on the barrel. The sweat equity documents are available - ask on the site (and now that I think about it, I suppose we should just put them on the site directly). There's no "owner": we all work on the same deal, me included. As it happens I have the largest chunk of equity. You can call that a scam after you have worked full time for over a decade with no paycheck :-) And yes, Mill Computing, Inc. is not how real companies are run. Is that a bug or a feature?