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Whatever you think about Visa or this merger, this would be a major disappoint to Plaid's team members who thought they were in for a huge financial windfall.
by jamestimmins 6y ago
Whatever you think about Visa or this merger, this would be a major disappoint to Plaid's team members who thought they were in for a huge financial windfall.
If that applies to anyone here, my sympathies and best of luck figuring out what's next for Plaid. Hopefully the morale hit isn't too big on the team.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- hnxs 6y agoI wonder if employees with equity will see any portions of the breakup fees as some sort of bonus.
- perpetualpatzer 6y agoWas there a breakup fee on this one? I'd expect it's pretty standard to waive that when it's due to unforeseen regulatory obstacles.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- paxys 6y agoThey'll get some $$$ out of it, and I have no doubt that they have a solid future as an independent company. The fintech sector is red hot right now. Heck they might even be able to catch the next IPO wave.
- RobRivera 6y agoSPAC SPAC SPAC SPAC SPAC
- monkeydust 6y agoNot sure why that was downvoted, there is a glut of funded SPACs and more on horizon who would love to take Plaid public.
- RobRivera 6y agoeach one with like, 200M in raised capital. maybe SPACs are a trend competing with vc money? which doesnt make sense...bc vc investors could also be bought out for a premium on acquisition as well...
- save_ferris 6y agoThe vast majority of tech workers that receive equity stakes in pre-IPO/acquisition companies don't ever see any financial windfall from their stakes. These guys will be just fine.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- garyrichardson 6y agoAgreed, except for one point. Please don't call it a windfall. Anyone in that company that would have seen life changing amounts of money has likely put incredible effort and hard work into making this happen.
- jamestimmins 6y agoInteresting, I just thought a windfall meant "a lot of money at once", but it looks like you're right that it implies luck. So agreed, a different word would be more accurate here.
- Talanes 6y agoBut obviously some element of luck is present here. Unless we're willing to say that the success or failure of the merger is entirely on how hard each employee worked.
- roflc0ptic 6y agoI mean, nobody reasonably joins a startup and expects to make buku bucks. It’s “unexpected good fortune” from my perspective, and certainly seems to qualify as a windfall.
- supernova87a 6y agoWell, maybe it isn't a "windfall" to someone who lives in the tech world and comes to expect such good fortune and thinks their effort should be rewarded in an outsized way. I'm sure we think it's deserved in a relative sense. But it is most definitely a windfall to the rest of the world (even the rest of the country), who work equally hard, under worse conditions, for their entire lives and cannot even hope to earn say 1/5 the wealth that a tech worker can accumulate after his/her first job. To have a payday of millions of $ fall out of the sky, for toiling the same as others trying to make a living, yet also being lucky to be in the right place and the right time to have it rewarded.
- AlexandrB 6y agoThis comment strikes a nerve with me - perhaps because it's "saying the quiet part loud". I thought the typical goal of hackers and startups was to "change the world" and "make a difference". How does selling to Visa accomplish those things? Isn't expressing sympathy with Plaid's staff for not getting a payout effectively saying "sorry that you might actually have to deliver on the lofty promises this time"? It's also kind of indicative of how small startup ambitions have become. Acquisition has become a measure of success, not failure.
- Operyl 6y agoTo be fair, Visa would’ve had the partnerships with banks to really push for standard API access to various banks. Plaid works by giving them your username and password in most flows (although some banks like Chase finally have an authorization flow without MITM).
- JMTQp8lwXL 6y agoThe rank-and-file employees that work for companies like this have other goals, like buying houses and saving for retirement, it's not a single dimension. Yes, they want to help the world but not at the expense of themselves and their own financial future.
- jkaplowitz 6y agoThat's often true for startup founders too. However mission-driven some of us are, we still live in a capitalist world with bills to pay.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- cheriot 6y agoPlaid has ~500 employees with normal lives and financial goals. There are start-ups out there with a real chance to change the world, but I think it gets over played as a form of recruiting and media strategy.
- paxys 6y ago
- throwawayacct8 6y agoCan attest that some employees and ex-employees took a decent tax hit by exercising NSOs after the acquisition was announced at the $5.3 valuation price.
- MaxHoppersGhost 6y agoI’m sure those wannabe monopolists will be fine and something else will come along. The rich always get richer.
- tempsy 6y agoUh no. Plaid is probably worth much more now than it was when it was acquired. The entire market has become much more frothy. I would not be surprised if it could command a $10B+ valuation as a standalone company.
- cs-szazz 6y agoThat doesn't mean much unless the employees have liquidity right? Presumably after the acquisition the employees would've been able to convert their options to cold hard cash.
- tempsy 6y agoacquisitions aren't necessarily great for employees because liquidation preferences apply. with SPAC-mania they could merge with a SPAC or go public. my point is the path to going public is much easier now than a year ago.
- z3t4 6y agoIf we ignore the lucky ones who where first employee at unicorn with very generously owner,,, do you really get any money as an employee when there is an acquisition !? How common is it outside Silicon Valley ?
- xyst 6y agoI hope they fail. Some users report they deceptively impersonate the users bank in order to extract as many data points from them (loans, lines of credit, ...)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]