6 ms·

That's the point. Being "just" an employee is not a fair deal anymore.

sillysaurus3 9y ago
It's not. And the moment employees collectively figure this out, founders won't have a choice anymore. Not if they want employees.
- Nuzzerino 9y ago
  It's not even necessarily up to the founders. In a VC-backed startup, the VCs make the call when it comes to compensation ranges. There is little diversity between companies on how that actually happens. We can pretend that it is a market equilibrium, but the analogy I would rather use is that of the medieval professional guilds, where prices were often rigged for the benefit of those at the top. I am not claiming that the VCs are evil, or even a necessary evil. I don't think they are evil nor necessary. I think that they may be very inefficient when it comes to providing for a healthy economy that benefits everyone and not just themselves. Hate the game, not the player.
- skgoa 9y ago
  Yeah, but there seems to be an endless supply of startup success story fan employees ready to be exploited.
mikeokner 9y ago
Why not? No one's stopping you from starting your own venture. What makes you entitled to a larger piece of the pie if you aren't putting in the extra work or shouldering the extra risk of a founder?
- redditmigrant 9y ago
  You are shouldering risk, by presumably not working at big co and having an assured higher paycheck.
  - jonny_eh 9y ago
    Not everyone wants to work at Facebook or Google, nor can they start their own gig from scratch.
- trhway 9y ago
  >shouldering the extra risk of a founder founders give up ((potential salary + RSU at a megacorp - salary at the startup) multiplied by number of years at the startup) while employees give up ((potential salary + RSU at a megacorp - salary at the startup) multiplied by number of years at the startup). Did you notice any significant difference? I mean there may be difference between megacoprs and numbers of years at the startup, yet does it warrant like 100x and larger (like div by 0) difference in the outcomes?
  - zcrar70 9y ago
    Founders usually give up their family lives, social lives, leisure time, and sometimes their reputation, sanity, initial investment in the startup and self-esteem on top of what you list, depending on the outcome. The stress level for a founder is usually quite high, and the success rate is quite low.
    - trhway 9y ago
      What i see around, ie. friends & acquaintances, is at some point, usually after a good stint at one or a couple places a midlevel manager/executive decides "time to make next level of money", and together with several like minded guys and established good connections they pick up some investors from a line up of the investors eager to get in, and the rest is a well defined process. There is no risk, no giving up of any live, reputation, etc. There is only improvement on all of these fronts. If their venture doesn't make it big, it will be acquired with a nice premium and they would end up somewhere at the same or higher positions anyway. One such is already a unicorn in a pretty short, even by SV standards, time. List of the advisers/investors and other involved people of another such venture, started pretty recently, is impossible to read while maintaining steady breath :)
      - sgs1370 9y ago
        "There is no risk" What? You're wrong.
        9y ago

It's not. And the moment employees collectively figure this out, founders won't have a choice anymore. Not if they want employees.

Nuzzerino 9y ago
It's not even necessarily up to the founders. In a VC-backed startup, the VCs make the call when it comes to compensation ranges. There is little diversity between companies on how that actually happens. We can pretend that it is a market equilibrium, but the analogy I would rather use is that of the medieval professional guilds, where prices were often rigged for the benefit of those at the top. I am not claiming that the VCs are evil, or even a necessary evil. I don't think they are evil nor necessary. I think that they may be very inefficient when it comes to providing for a healthy economy that benefits everyone and not just themselves. Hate the game, not the player.
skgoa 9y ago
Yeah, but there seems to be an endless supply of startup success story fan employees ready to be exploited.

mikeokner 9y ago

Why not? No one's stopping you from starting your own venture. What makes you entitled to a larger piece of the pie if you aren't putting in the extra work or shouldering the extra risk of a founder?

redditmigrant 9y ago
You are shouldering risk, by presumably not working at big co and having an assured higher paycheck.
- jonny_eh 9y ago
  Not everyone wants to work at Facebook or Google, nor can they start their own gig from scratch.
trhway 9y ago
>shouldering the extra risk of a founder founders give up ((potential salary + RSU at a megacorp - salary at the startup) multiplied by number of years at the startup) while employees give up ((potential salary + RSU at a megacorp - salary at the startup) multiplied by number of years at the startup). Did you notice any significant difference? I mean there may be difference between megacoprs and numbers of years at the startup, yet does it warrant like 100x and larger (like div by 0) difference in the outcomes?
- zcrar70 9y ago
  Founders usually give up their family lives, social lives, leisure time, and sometimes their reputation, sanity, initial investment in the startup and self-esteem on top of what you list, depending on the outcome. The stress level for a founder is usually quite high, and the success rate is quite low.
  - trhway 9y ago
    What i see around, ie. friends & acquaintances, is at some point, usually after a good stint at one or a couple places a midlevel manager/executive decides "time to make next level of money", and together with several like minded guys and established good connections they pick up some investors from a line up of the investors eager to get in, and the rest is a well defined process. There is no risk, no giving up of any live, reputation, etc. There is only improvement on all of these fronts. If their venture doesn't make it big, it will be acquired with a nice premium and they would end up somewhere at the same or higher positions anyway. One such is already a unicorn in a pretty short, even by SV standards, time. List of the advisers/investors and other involved people of another such venture, started pretty recently, is impossible to read while maintaining steady breath :)
    - sgs1370 9y ago
      "There is no risk" What? You're wrong.
      - 9y ago