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But he's very successful. Who's viewpoint are we supposed to champion here - the employee or the employer? Should we not be happy when an employer is successful

But he's very successful. Who's viewpoint are we supposed to champion here - the employee or the employer? Should we not be happy when an employer is successful and can get a lot from his employees with minimal expense? Does the process of building a startup not put us squarely in the side of the employer?

marcamillion 16y ago
Max...he has made a bunch of money. I wouldn't say he is 'very successful'. Show me the engineers fighting to go work for him. I give Mahalo 3 - 5 years before shutting their doors. Hopefully that will humble him a bit.
samd 16y ago
You are characterizing the relationship between employers and employees as zero-sum. Does that need to be the case? Should that be the case?
ahi 16y ago
Depends on your definition of successful. I don't consider him particularly successful.
thirdstation 16y ago
"Does the process of building a startup not put us squarely in the side of the employer?" I guess that depends on your motivation. Being your own boss is one reason to launch a startup. But, being a boss doesn't give you the right to impose your value system on your employees.
heliodor 16y ago
in my mind, success is not primarily measured in money. happiness is much more important. it's a broader representation of life's needs, including money. also, success is not a zero-sum game. on the contrary, a lot of the more successful startups treat their employees better than average.
neworbit 16y ago
This is a general question and not specifically to you: how successful is he? I have him mentally associated with netscape.com and a bad digg clone, and some time on the VC side of the table - so for people like me who don't know the background there, what did he do entrepreneurially and how well did he do for himself and his investors?
jasonmcalacanis 16y ago
Actually, in startups everyone is aligned in their interest due to stock options. Anyone who looks at it as employer/employee just doesn't get the startup dynamic. As an investor in 20 startups I'm constantly pushing to give more stock options to employees, and as the founder of three companies with over 100 f/t employees and 250 part-time folks, I'm constantly pushing to increase stock compensation over cash comp. Why
- maxklein 16y ago
  Why what? Don't leave with that cliffhanger!?
- iphoneedbot 16y ago
  its not necessarily true that increasing stock-options to employees align their collective interest. for a startup; it only really works if everyone has close to equal shares Its sorta like paying disney employees with disney-bux for their bonuses.

marcamillion 16y ago

Max...he has made a bunch of money. I wouldn't say he is 'very successful'. Show me the engineers fighting to go work for him. I give Mahalo 3 - 5 years before shutting their doors. Hopefully that will humble him a bit.

samd 16y ago

You are characterizing the relationship between employers and employees as zero-sum. Does that need to be the case? Should that be the case?

ahi 16y ago

Depends on your definition of successful. I don't consider him particularly successful.

thirdstation 16y ago

"Does the process of building a startup not put us squarely in the side of the employer?" I guess that depends on your motivation. Being your own boss is one reason to launch a startup. But, being a boss doesn't give you the right to impose your value system on your employees.

heliodor 16y ago

in my mind, success is not primarily measured in money. happiness is much more important. it's a broader representation of life's needs, including money. also, success is not a zero-sum game. on the contrary, a lot of the more successful startups treat their employees better than average.

neworbit 16y ago

This is a general question and not specifically to you: how successful is he? I have him mentally associated with netscape.com and a bad digg clone, and some time on the VC side of the table - so for people like me who don't know the background there, what did he do entrepreneurially and how well did he do for himself and his investors?

jasonmcalacanis 16y ago

Actually, in startups everyone is aligned in their interest due to stock options. Anyone who looks at it as employer/employee just doesn't get the startup dynamic. As an investor in 20 startups I'm constantly pushing to give more stock options to employees, and as the founder of three companies with over 100 f/t employees and 250 part-time folks, I'm constantly pushing to increase stock compensation over cash comp. Why

maxklein 16y ago
Why what? Don't leave with that cliffhanger!?
iphoneedbot 16y ago
its not necessarily true that increasing stock-options to employees align their collective interest. for a startup; it only really works if everyone has close to equal shares Its sorta like paying disney employees with disney-bux for their bonuses.